NOTEBOOK / SEAN WATERS : Crossroads Boys’ Team Appears to Be in a Class by Itself

Defending Division IV-A boys’ basketball champion Crossroads High continues to dominate its competition.

On Friday, 6-foot-10 center Austin Croshere had 22 points and 14 rebounds, 5-7 point guard Travon Dugar had 13 points and seven assists, and 6-4 guard Baker Allen had 14 points in a 92-54 victory over Orange Lutheran. Croshere, who will play at Providence, Allen, who will attend UC Santa Barbara, and Dugar did not play in the second half.

Crossroads plays Oak Park at Moorpark High on Friday. The Eagles are led by point guard Nick Rattray, who averages 11.4 points.

“I don’t take anybody lightly,” Crossroads Coach Daryl Roper said. “We’re coming to play full throttle.”

Roper has been impressed with the play of point guard Dugar. Croshere is often double- and triple-teamed, but Dugar is able to get him the ball during crucial times in a game.

“Travon is the player who is making things happen for us on offense,” Roper said.

Dugar is being recruited by UC Davis, but Roper believes the senior point guard deserves a second look by other schools.

“Some school is going to be very unhappy for not recruiting Travon,” Roper said. “I think he is a premiere point guard. I really do.”

Boys’ basketball: The second round of the Southern Section basketball playoffs continued Tuesday. Capistrano Valley Christian defeated Yeshiva, 55-44, and Brentwood beat Desert, 60-40, in Division V-AA. Coastal Christian lost to Bel-Air Prep, 78-46, and Santa Maria Valley Christian defeated Westside Prep, 65-56, in Division V-A.

In a Division IV-AA semifinal game on Friday, Palo Verde plays St. Bernard.

In the City Section, Venice and University did not receive at-large bids. Crenshaw, which has won 11 titles, Westchester, the two-time defending 4-A champion, Fairfax and Palisades qualified. The Cougars were the top-seeded team and played host to Van Nuys Wednesday. The Comets, seeded third, played host to Cleveland. In other first-round games, Dorsey played at Fairfax and Palisades was at Washington.

The second round will be played Friday.

Girls’ basketball: Jenny Nakanishi of Culver City finished as the 10th-leading scorer and made the third most three-point shots in the Southern Section.

Nakanishi scored 590 points in 26 games for a 22.7 average. Jamie Arundell of Fillmore led the Southern Section with a 29.4 average.

Nakanishi, a senior guard, made 66 of 170 three-point shots. Amee Pina of Chino was the leader with 99 three-point shots.

Sophomore Sherrise Smith of Crossroads was the 25th-leading scorer with a 20.3 average. St. Bernard’s Kelly Shimabukuro was 27th in assists with 5.0 average and 13th in three-point shots with 41.

The Southern Section continues second-round games Saturday. Culver City plays host to Atascadero, St. Bernard is at Morro Bay, St. Genevieve is at Crossroads and Pasadena Poly visits Brentwood.

In Wednesday’s City 4-A games, Venice played host to South Gate, Westchester was at Roosevelt, Dorsey was at Van Nuys and top-seeded Crenshaw played host to Franklin. In 3-A, University played top-seeded Jefferson and Hamilton played at Narbonne.

Boys’ soccer: Brentwood’s John O’Brien, one of the top soccer players in the Southern Section, had an impressive game in the Eagles’ 4-1 victory over Cathedral Friday. O’Brien, a left halfback, set up two goals and scored another.

“He reads the game very well,” Brentwood Coach Elisete Novaes said. “His skills are so refined that he could do anything with the ball.”

O’Brien, one of eight Californians on the U.S. Olympic Development team, is the second-leading scorer on the Eagles. Matt Newmark, a right halfback, leads the team in scoring.

“One of the beauties of having two outstanding players like John and Mike is that you can ask them to do something and you know it is going to be done,” Novaes said.

On Tuesday, Carpinteria tied Brentwood, 4-4, and advanced on a penalty kicks. Harvard-Westlake lost to Chaffey, 2-0.

In today’s games, Santa Ana is at Santa Monica.

In girls’ soccer, Brentwood defeated Cate, 3-1, on Tuesday.

Track: Ramone Clark of Dorsey and Kamara Mayberry of St. Bernard were among the top area finishers in the Sunkist Invitational Saturday at the Sports Arena.

Clark finish second in his heat in the boys’ 500 yards with a time of 1:00.24. Mayberry ran 2:21.35 to place third in her heat of the girls’ 880.

In the boys’ triple jump, Mel Maultry of Beverly Hills placed fifth at 46-feet-6 1/2. David Shumsky (Palisades) jumped 6-2 to place seventh in the seeded high jump. Jesse Stern (Harvard-Westlake) was ninth with 14-6 in the pole vault. Bill Steinhart (Harvard-Westlake) ran 2:04.60 to place ninth in the 880. Omar Marroquin (Hamilton) ran 4:36.36 to place fifth in race one of the rated mile.

Women’s tennis: Jean Dillingham has been named women’s tennis coach at Santa Monica College. Dillingham, 32, is a former director of the U.S. Tennis Assn. schools program.

The Corsairs (3-0) recently placed second in the eight-team Chaffey College invitational.