Crossroads Christian advances to first NCISAA 1A Final Four
• By Brandon White bwhite@hendersondispatch.com; 2
HENDERSON – A history-making season for the Crossroads Christian men’s basketball team continued on Saturday afternoon in dominating fashion.
By easily defeating Ridgecroft 82-34, Crossroads punched their ticket into the NCISAA 1A Final Four that is set to begin on Tuesday evening, which is the first time in school history that the men’s basketball team has reached that milestone.
The territory Crossroads is about to venture into is familiar for head coach Scottie Richardson, who has been working tirelessly with his players through different types of adversity to make sure they were ready to represent the school on a big stage in the NCISAA.
“I’m fortunate enough to have had previous Final Four experience,” Richardson said. “I’ve been telling the players all about it but now we get to experience it together and leave this as part of our legacy. We have a Final Four banner that commemorates all of the teams in the past including our men’s soccer team from the fall. Now we can say we’re Final Four bound.”
Richardson added that the core of Crossroads’ success comes down to the leadership of his five seniors and the nucleus surrounding them.
Since arriving at the school during the pandemic, seniors Andres Prince and Drew Rogers have provided plenty of offensive firepower for Crossroads, with Prince’s efficiency earning him NCISAA 1A All-State recognition the year before.
Off the court, the seniors have taken responsibility in elevating the rest of the team. Rogers in particular has taken center stage on this front and has garnered praise from Richardson for being one of the most vocal leaders that have been on one of his rosters.
Outside of Prince, Rogers and the rest of the team’s senior class in Ryan Adcock, John Eason Jr. and Mason Gladieux, Crossroads has also found reliable contributions in the form of junior John Henderson Jr.'s interior presence and junior Shane Anthony’s accuracy from inside and around the perimeter.
The plethora of different options for Richardson to utilize on offense and defense have resulted in a team that he believes is the most complete in Crossroads history and one that has gradually improved through the 26 games they have played together.
Other than a lopsided second quarter that Richardson attributed to an overall lack of focus, he said that Saturday’s commanding win over Ridgecroft was a perfect sendoff for a senior class that took part in their final game inside Crossroads’ gymnasium.
Richardson wanted to test Ridgecroft’s resolve underneath the rim from the opening tip and said that all of his interior players excelled at keeping Ridgecroft off-balance while simultaneously opening up scoring opportunities for their teammates around the basket.
“With the schedule we played versus Ridgecroft’s, we knew we could come out on top if we were the more physical team,” Richardson said. “I thought John Eason and D’Markus Tucker played very well. We went with a bigger lineup and that’s something we’ll probably do on Tuesday.”
With a Final Four position locked up, the only team standing in the way of Crossroads reaching the NCISAA 1A Championship is the top-seeded Greenfield.
Crossroads has grown very familiar with Greenfield since Richardson took over the program. Greenfield knocked Crossroads out of the Elite Eight back in 2018 and handed them a 90-67 loss when the two sides met at the former’s annual Christmas tournament.
Richardson knows that Crossroads faces an immense challenge in front of a potential championship berth but he is confident that his players can pull off the upset if they rely on each other and properly utilize all of their strengths as a team.
“We know about Greenfield after playing them during Christmas,” Richardson said. “We just have to play with focus and teamwork but we also really need to rely on our defense, which is something that we’ve focused on all season long.”
Crossroads will look to keep their history-making season alive for one more game when they hit the road to face Greenfield on Tuesday night.
Crossroads Christian scorers: Andres Prince 18, John Henderson Jr. 17, Drew Rogers 17, D’Markus Tucker 11, Shane Anthony 8, John Eason Jr. 6, Ben Gladieux 4, Jayden White 1
• By Brandon White bwhite@hendersondispatch.com; 2
HENDERSON – A history-making season for the Crossroads Christian men’s basketball team continued on Saturday afternoon in dominating fashion.
By easily defeating Ridgecroft 82-34, Crossroads punched their ticket into the NCISAA 1A Final Four that is set to begin on Tuesday evening, which is the first time in school history that the men’s basketball team has reached that milestone.
The territory Crossroads is about to venture into is familiar for head coach Scottie Richardson, who has been working tirelessly with his players through different types of adversity to make sure they were ready to represent the school on a big stage in the NCISAA.
“I’m fortunate enough to have had previous Final Four experience,” Richardson said. “I’ve been telling the players all about it but now we get to experience it together and leave this as part of our legacy. We have a Final Four banner that commemorates all of the teams in the past including our men’s soccer team from the fall. Now we can say we’re Final Four bound.”
Richardson added that the core of Crossroads’ success comes down to the leadership of his five seniors and the nucleus surrounding them.
Since arriving at the school during the pandemic, seniors Andres Prince and Drew Rogers have provided plenty of offensive firepower for Crossroads, with Prince’s efficiency earning him NCISAA 1A All-State recognition the year before.
Off the court, the seniors have taken responsibility in elevating the rest of the team. Rogers in particular has taken center stage on this front and has garnered praise from Richardson for being one of the most vocal leaders that have been on one of his rosters.
Outside of Prince, Rogers and the rest of the team’s senior class in Ryan Adcock, John Eason Jr. and Mason Gladieux, Crossroads has also found reliable contributions in the form of junior John Henderson Jr.'s interior presence and junior Shane Anthony’s accuracy from inside and around the perimeter.
The plethora of different options for Richardson to utilize on offense and defense have resulted in a team that he believes is the most complete in Crossroads history and one that has gradually improved through the 26 games they have played together.
Other than a lopsided second quarter that Richardson attributed to an overall lack of focus, he said that Saturday’s commanding win over Ridgecroft was a perfect sendoff for a senior class that took part in their final game inside Crossroads’ gymnasium.
Richardson wanted to test Ridgecroft’s resolve underneath the rim from the opening tip and said that all of his interior players excelled at keeping Ridgecroft off-balance while simultaneously opening up scoring opportunities for their teammates around the basket.
“With the schedule we played versus Ridgecroft’s, we knew we could come out on top if we were the more physical team,” Richardson said. “I thought John Eason and D’Markus Tucker played very well. We went with a bigger lineup and that’s something we’ll probably do on Tuesday.”
With a Final Four position locked up, the only team standing in the way of Crossroads reaching the NCISAA 1A Championship is the top-seeded Greenfield.
Crossroads has grown very familiar with Greenfield since Richardson took over the program. Greenfield knocked Crossroads out of the Elite Eight back in 2018 and handed them a 90-67 loss when the two sides met at the former’s annual Christmas tournament.
Richardson knows that Crossroads faces an immense challenge in front of a potential championship berth but he is confident that his players can pull off the upset if they rely on each other and properly utilize all of their strengths as a team.
“We know about Greenfield after playing them during Christmas,” Richardson said. “We just have to play with focus and teamwork but we also really need to rely on our defense, which is something that we’ve focused on all season long.”
Crossroads will look to keep their history-making season alive for one more game when they hit the road to face Greenfield on Tuesday night.
Crossroads Christian scorers: Andres Prince 18, John Henderson Jr. 17, Drew Rogers 17, D’Markus Tucker 11, Shane Anthony 8, John Eason Jr. 6, Ben Gladieux 4, Jayden White 1
