| kuksiks, falcons roll florida air's winning streak reaches 50
MELBOURNE - Sometimes a guy just has to take over. That's what Rihards Kuksiks did for Florida Air on Tuesday night, scoring a career-high 45 points as the Falcons defeated Brevard Christian 93-58, extending their win streak to 50 games. With fellow 3-point bomber Evka Baniulis again sidelined by injury - this time it's an ankle sprain - Kuksiks more than picked up the slack for Florida Air's No. 1-ranked defending Class 3A state champions. "I try to do my thing, but it's hard without Evka because he does so much with offense and defense," said Kuksiks who had nine 3-pointers, eight rebounds, two steals and two dunks. "When Evka is around, we play with more teamwork." With Baniulis on the bench, point guard Jerome Burgos still out with a knee injury and forward Ulisses Maldonado recovering from illness, FAA coach Aubin Goporo started his sixth different lineup of the season. Goporo said that makes a difference, though it wasn't evident against the outclassed War Eagles (13-6). The game was played with a running clock after the Florida Air advantage reached 35 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter. "We're struggling chemistry-wise," Goporo said. "Once again we had a lot of people out of position. We weren't running our offense and we were out of position on defense. That's not how we play." Kuksiks was a balm for all that. "Because Evka is down, Rihards took over," Goporo said. "He put the team on his back. He did everything for us." Brevard Christian coach John Tice said his team tried to slow Kuksiks. "He had one guy hanging on him and he still made 3s," Tice said. "Just think if we hadn't covered him. He probably would have scored 100." Kuksiks' 45 points was the most he has ever scored, topping his previous high of 43 in an AAU game, but the nine 3-pointers fell short of the 12 he swished in one game back home in Latvia. The Falcons (18-0) also got double-figure scoring from Markus Alan-Agee, who had 14 to go with 11 rebounds and six steals, and Zip Lotarev with 11 points (three 3s) and six assists. For Brevard Christian, Musa Abdul-Aleem had 22 points and DJ Little scored 21. |