CARLSBAD — It has been a basketball season like no other for Santa Fe Christian.
A preseason foot injury and subsequent surgery robbed the Eagles of their best player — 6-foot-5 junior guard Trevan Martin.
Martin, who has drawn interest from Pepperdine, Dartmouth, Rice, Seattle, UC San Diego and Cal State Fullerton, will not play this season.
Two weeks ago, junior guard Keatten Smith, who is averaging 23 points a game, hurt a knee.
“We thought he might have torn his ACL, but tests came back negative,” said SFC coach Chad Bickley. “So there’s a chance we’ll have him back around playoff time.”
Friday, the injuries finally caught up to No. 9-ranked Santa Fe Christian as the Eagles fell 57-50 to Army-Navy in a Coastal League game.
The Coastal League features No. 4 Foothills Christian and No. 5 Francis Parker, who figure to join SFC in the Open Division playoffs.
The loss by SFC (16-8, 4-4) makes it a two-team race in the league between Foothills Christian and Parker.
In a back-and-fourth game that saw 13 lead changes and five ties, SFC led 50-46 with 2:45 to play on a 3-pointer by Hayden Gray.
That, however, would be the last Eagles score as Army-Navy (14-9, 3-5) went on an 11-0 run to end the game.
A 3-pointer by Albert Pichardo got the Warriors within one and AJ Marmolejos’ breakaway layin gave ANA the lead with 53 seconds to play.
Marmolejos, however, was whistled for a technical foul on the play, but Santa Fe Christian missed both foul shots, then turned the ball over.
Another Marmolejos basket gave the Warriors a three-point lead with 35 seconds to play.
SFC missed the front end of a one-and-one and ANA’s Pichardo made two free throws with 16 seconds left.
SFC’s last hope faded away on a turnover.
The Eagles, who had eight turnovers through the first three quarters, turned it over six times in the fourth.
Army-Navy won despite 20 turnovers.
ANA’s Cobey Harraway led all scorers with 21 and had nine rebounds. Marmolejos added 10 points and Nick Indrieri had seven points, 12 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
Gray led SFC with 18 points while Alex Yphantides had 12 rebounds.
“Our league is brutally tough,” Army-Navy coach Bobby Huggins said of a league that also includes Orange Glen, Bishop’s and La Jolla Country Day. “There are no off nights in this league. We have two key seniors (Pichardo and Harraway), but other than that we’re young.”