Jun. 23—OXFORD — The Crossroads Christian and Oxford Prep men’s basketball team met at the latter’s gymnasium on Tuesday afternoon for the first of two scheduled exhibition matches this week.
Crossroads had very few issues in dealing with Oxford Prep and defeated them 102-57, which head coach Scottie Richardson attributed to the team’s extensive offseason program that included Team Camps at UNC Charlotte and UNC Pembroke last week.
“Last week helped today for sure,” Richardson said. “We’re starting to build that chemistry that we just didn’t have last year. This is a great group.”
Senior Andres Prince helped Crossroads establish a commanding lead early by mercilessly torching Oxford Prep from around the rim. Their advantage extended to 21 points at halftime with Oxford Prep being unable to keep up with Crossroads’ efficiency on both ends of the floor.
Although Prince contributed to a good portion of Crossroads’ scoring, freshman Jayden White continued to build confidence from the Team Camps by draining numerous shots, finishing the day with a solid 21-point performance.
White was unable to play for Crossroads during the 2020-21 season due to a broken foot but Richardson is confident that he can keep putting together similar games like the one against Oxford Prep and become a valuable contributor alongside Prince, senior captain Drew Rogers and the rest of the roster.
While Crossroads enjoyed a successful afternoon, Oxford Prep was forced to play from behind after committing numerous mistakes, with senior Lucas Juntunen serving as a bright spot for the team by being a dominant presence underneath the rim.
Assistant coach Pete Lagusis, who led the team on Tuesday with head coach Leo Brunelli serving as an official, anticipated that Oxford Prep would encounter some issues against Crossroads but said that his players are gaining valuable experience with each game they play.
“We’ve been working hard all summer,” Lagusis said. “We graduated four seniors so there’s a lot of growing up we have to do. We’ve probably played well over a dozen games over the last couple of weeks so I’m not worried about the end results but rather how we progress. I do think we are getting better every day.”
Richardson said that everyone on his roster played their own role in ensuring that Crossroads won by 45 points against Oxford Prep but believes that there are many areas the team could still improve on throughout the rest of the offseason.
“We have to get cleaner,” Richardson said. “There were a lot of turnovers late and I don’t like that, but we’ll get it fixed.”
Oxford Prep will make the short trip to Henderson on Wednesday for their second and final game against Crossroads, which is set to tip off at 1 p.m..