XRDS — Crossroads’ boys’ basketball team opened the season with “a good old fashioned butt whooping” by Brentwood Tuesday, to hear Head Coach Kevin Jackson tell it.
Nearby Brentwood was able to come away with a 90-76 win that Jackson hopes teaches his young team some hard knock lessons.
Those lessons will come in handy as Crossroads learns to live without Luke Shmuger, who was the team’s obvious leader on offense.
Shooting guard Jason Ball led the Roadrunners on offense with 14 points. He’ll be one of the players asked to pick up the slack left by Shmuger, who now plays for Kenyon College.
“Us without Luke is like the Lakers without Kobe [Bryant],” Jackson said. “We just have to learn to have the confidence to play without Luke.”
Next for Crossroads is the LaQuinta Tournament, which begins on Monday.
St. Monica opens year with win
St. Monica’s girls’ basketball team opened the season with a 57-47 win over Beverly Hills on the road Tuesday.
The Mariners were led by Briana Harris, a transfer from Santa Monica High School who helped the Vikings reach the semifinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division 1AA last season.
Harris scored 22 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and dished 6 assists.
For Harris, the performance against Beverly Hills was not much of a surprise. She faced Beverly Hills twice a season in the Ocean League for the past three years while she was at Samohi.
daniela@www.smdp.com
