SANTA MONICA – Two programs stocked with considerable talent among their underclassmen were among the opening-day winners Monday in the St. Monica High Tournament.
The Crossroads School and Windward knocked off Ribet Academy and La Serna, respectively, and joined L.A. City power Taft and the host Mariners with victories in the eight-team, pool-play competition that resumes Wednesday and wraps up Friday night.
Crossroads, which won a State Division II championship last season under first-year Head Coach Anthony Davis, improved to 3-0 while cruising past short-handed Ribet Academy, 73-55.
Windward is 4-0 after it pulled away in the second half to topple La Serna (which fell to 5-1), 59-45.
Taft never could put is proverbial foot to the pedal but was never seriously threatened, either, while winning its season opener against Cathedral, 66-58.
St. Monica opened things by holding off Hamilton, 49-47.
Six-foot-nine freshman Henri Adiassa was credited with 16 points, 20 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots for Crossroads.
Adiassa (PICTURED) has been well known by those who follow Southland “grassroots” basketball for more than a year and demonstrated Monday the steady progress he has been making, in terms of fundamentals and assertiveness, in recent months.
Davis said that extra instruction his freshman has been receiving of late from a Crossroads alum who mastered low-post play long ago.
Six-nine Austin Croshere was a Crossroads standout before going on to Providence and then a 12-year career in the NBA.
He and his family live in the area “and he’s got two kids who go to Croshere,” Davis said after his team’s win.
So, as well as “carpooling” his kids, Croshere shows up for some Crossroads and shows Adiassa some of the many tricks of the “big man” trade.
Many of those things were on display Monday night, including a couple types of hook shots (of the “sky”/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar variety and more-often-used-now “jump hooks”), low-post balance and ability to pass well from the post.
The Roadrunners, who were led by Shareef O’Neal (now a UCLA freshman who isn’t playing this season because of a heart ailment) last season, continue to have an “NBA presence”, not only by way of the contributions of Croshere by also by way of another O’Neal son, sophomore guard Shaqir O’Neal, as well as junior Miles Ceballos (whose dad is another NBA alum, Cedric Ceballos).
O’Neal and Ceballos added 14 points apiece Monday night.
And the NBA presence is likely to be a whole lot more pronounced a year from now when LeBron James Jr (now an eighth grade at Crossroads) is expected to join Davis’ varsity.
Windward also has a couple of terrific freshmen, and 6-1 Dylan Andrews scored a team-high 18 points (with five assists) Monday while 6-8 Kijani Wright had seven points and five rebounds.
Six-five junior Devin Tillis, who missed all of last season with a knee injury that required surgery, had seven points and seven rebounds.
Since their teams are in opposite brackets, an Adiassa-Wright matchup can’t take place until Friday and won’t come about unless their teams finish in the same spots in their respective brackets.
Taft got 18 points from senior forward Brandon Wilson, 16 from senior guard Dominique Winbush (a transfer from Crenshaw) and 13 more from junior Demetrius Calip.
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