SOUTHERN REGIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Division III : Crossroads Too Much For Army-Navy, 85-71

CARLSBAD —  Crossroads High School of Santa Monica and Army and Navy Academy of Carlsbad are two vastly different schools.

While the clean-cut academy students arrived at Wednesday night’s 1-A boys’ basketball state regionals in their dress uniforms, the students from Crossroads looked like they’d be more at home at a Grateful Dead concert.

The differences between their two basketball teams were even more striking, as the fast-break Roadrunners outran and outplayed Army and Navy, 85-71.

Crossroad is 21-7. Army and Navy ends 17-6.

The game was rarely as close as the final score indicated. Crossroads jumped to a 17-6 lead on the outside shooting of guards Chris Brown and Marc Rudolph, who scored six points each in the first quarter.

But just when it appeared the game would be a rout, the Roadrunners went cold. At the same time, Army and Navy 6-6 center Chuck Harraway scored eight points and had six rebounds over the next three minutes to help the Warriors close the gap to 16-15.

“I was annoyed,” Crossroads Coach Elliot Turret said. “I didn’t think the game had any business being that close. It’s a matter of pride for our players to maintain a good-sized cushion.”

Crossroads came back, building a 72-45 lead by the end of the third quarter. Turret inserted his reserves in the fourth quarter, enabling Army and Navy to cut 13 points off the lead.

Turret said his team, making its fifth straight appearance in the CIF southern regional, expected more of a battle from the Warriors.

“I’d heard they were going to be really large and strong and I guess the people we talked to overestimated their size a bit,” Turret said.

Crossroads outrebounded Army and Navy, 54-30.

“What are they doing in our division?” Army and Navy Coach John Maffucci asked. Maffucci, who ended his 16-year basketball coaching career Wednesday night, said he was happy with his finale.

“It’s good, because our kids never quit,” he said. “They had a lot more pressure tonight than they’re used to at our level of competition. I’m not displeased with my team’s performance at all.”

Army and Navy center Nick Markowitz was the game’s high scorer with 26 points. Rudolph led Crossroads with 18 points.