OC Marines Make It Their Duty to Play the Game : Basketball: When soldiers from El Toro and Tustin military bases aren’t working or ‘fighting communism’ at sea, they take to the court.

And you thought your favorite basketball coach had problems. Consider the difficulties Sgt. Maj. Chris Crawford, coach of the Marine Corps helicopter-air station team in Tustin, and Gunnery Sgt. James Palmer, coach of El Toro’s Marine Corps air station team, have faced this season.

--When the season started in September, two Tustin starters were on duty at sea “fighting communism,” as Crawford is fond of saying.

--At a recent practice, Crawford’s squad was forced into a half-court workout. The El Toro Marine women’s team, which shares the one-court gym at El Toro with the El Toro and Tustin men’s teams, also was practicing.

--Because of duty assignments and work commitments, Palmer had only six players available for a game against the San Diego Marine Corps team in December. El Toro still won, 87-83.

Welcome to Marine Corps basketball, where fielding a competitive team is a constant struggle.

“It’s really frustrating,” Palmer said. “But being Marines, we’re used to making do with what we have.”

What they have is little time, but plenty of heart, the coaches said. “Most of the time the guys are going on guts, sheer guts,” Crawford said.

El Toro (10-12) and Tustin (4-8), which play area community colleges and other military teams, are struggling this season. Such records can make a Marine basketball player’s long day even longer. A typical day consists of work from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Two or three times a week, one-hour practices are squeezed in after hours.

Players and coaches said attempting to compete with colleges, given their limited time, is difficult. Games are played at night and on weekends, which can also be a strain on players with families. Why such dedication?

“We love it,” Crawford said. “We love the sport and we love the competition.”

Said Cpl. Kevin Calhoun, a 23-year-old who plays on the El Toro team: “In the military, you go to work, do the same job every day, wear the same uniform. It (basketball) gets your mind off the military for a while.”

Staff Sgt. Rodney Sanders, a 30-year-old teammate of Calhoun’s, enjoys showing the young guys a thing or two. “For a lot of us, this is the highest level we’re able to see,” said Sanders, who’s from Detroit. “A lot of the guys act like they’re prima donnas. I like to put something on them.”

Players on the two teams come in a variety of shapes, sizes and skill levels. Ages range from 17 to 30, and while most have high school experience, others did not begin playing competitively until they joined the Marines.

However, Long Beach College Coach Bill Fraser, who has played several military teams during his 17 years at the school, said all share one trait: a passion for the game.

“They compete because they’re competitors, not because anything is being held in front of them like a carrot, like a league championship,” Fraser said. “They play because they like to play.”

Which is not to say, stressed Fraser, that the Marine teams are not talented. Indeed, several players stand out.

Fraser said El Toro’s Calhoun, who scored 28 points against Long Beach Jan. 30, could compete at the community college level. The 6-foot-1 Calhoun, of Anaheim, is a quick player with a textbook left-handed jump shot. Although he has only one year of high school experience, he hopes to play college basketball when he leaves the military in two years.

Cpl. Darrin Bussell, a 24-year-old guard from Hopkinsville, Ky., “makes the team go,” assistant coach Staff Sgt. Arthur Taylor said.

Tustin’s top player is Cpl. Jerome Marsh, a 21-year-old from Pittsburgh. At a practice last week, the 6-2 Marsh put on a dunking display that would make some college players envious. Marsh said he played two years at Waynesburg College, a Division II school in Pennsylvania, before “financial trouble” forced him to join the Marines.

Crawford said Marsh, like many other military players, is talented enough to play college basketball.

“They have the talent,” he said. “It’s because of their grades, or maybe they just didn’t have the opportunity to go to school. There’s no doubt they have the ability.”

Still, military teams have trouble getting respect from community college opponents and fans, players said.

“They look at us and say, ‘That’s just some little military team, they can’t play ball,’ ” Marsh said. “That’s just not true. We like to go in a gym, play hard and leave with some respect.”

The teams are entertaining to watch. Tustin has scored 100 points once and 97 twice. El Toro has scored 100 points five times, including a 125-101 loss to Long Beach. But don’t describe El Toro’s offense as run-and-gun, said Palmer. His team runs to offset a lack of height.

“Other teams look at us and smile because we’re not very large,” he said. “We get the job done. If a team isn’t ready to run, they’re going to be in trouble.”

Despite the losing records, now is an exciting time for the Marine teams. The West Coast Regional, one of three Marine regional tournaments, will be held Feb. 12-15 at the Marine Corps logistics base in Barstow. El Toro and Tustin will play six other squads for the right to call themselves the best Marine team west of Kansas City.

“It’s our Final Four,” Crawford said.

Both coaches are reluctant to predict their team’s chances. No matter where Tustin finishes, Crawford said he will have no regrets.

“We’d be better with more practice time, but we’re not bitter,” he said. “We’re just happy to be playing on this level at all. We’re Marines. The duty comes first.”