9A-Region 3: Cypress Bay eliminates Douglas

<p>Cypress Bay hosted Stoneman Douglas on Thursday night in Class 9A-Region 3 quarterfinal. Here are 5 Takeaways from Weston:</p> <h2>Lightning advance</h2> <p>Coach <strong>Jason Looky</strong> and Cypress Bay (18-6), who were knocked out of the tournament by Deerfield Beach in this round last year, moved on to the 9A regional semifinals with a 55-46 victory over Douglas. The Lightning had not made it through to the region semis since falling to Coral Springs in 2016.</p> <h2>Front court plays big</h2> <p>Cypress Bay received a huge lift from its front court Thursday on a night when its guards struggled from the field. Senior forward <strong>Amir Brikat</strong> led all scorers with 14 points and he pulled down 8 rebounds. Sophomore center <strong>Tristan Goldstein</strong> had 11 points and 8 rebounds while senior <strong>Blake Alexis</strong> contributed 8 points and 5 boards.</p> <p>"It feels really good ... never been there before," said Brikat, of advancing within two victories of the state tournament.</p> <p>"Effort by Amir [was key], effort by Blake Alexis -- effort to guard No. 11 ... he's a great athlete -- and then Tristan," added Looky. "Our guards struggled to score a little bit tonight and those guys picked us up."</p> <p>Senior <strong>Tyler Krivitzkin</strong> and junior <strong>Isaiah Quinteros</strong> did score 10 points apiece in the W, but the guards combined to go 1 for 7 from the field in the second half.</p> <h2>Brikat's brother at ASA</h2> <p>Amir Brikat's brother, 6-foot-8 <strong>Malik Brikat</strong>, plays for ASA College Miami on the JuCo level.</p> <p>Amir said Cypress Bay's defense was the key to the victory over Douglas. "Our defense in the second half was way better than the first half and we made more shots," Brikat said. "We played really good defense against [Nos.] 11 [<strong>Marshaun West</strong>] and 15 [<strong>Rob Lamour</strong>], their big guys."</p> <h2>Douglas 2020s</h2> <p>Douglas has a couple of nice juniors in Marshaun West and <strong>Derek Miller</strong>. West was held to 6 points and Miller came off the bench to toss in 9 points. Lamour (2019) led Douglas with 11 points and <strong>Matt Fisher</strong> (2019) had 10. The Eagles' season ends at 11-13.</p> <h2>What's next</h2> <p>Cypress Bay will host rival Western, out of Davie, on Tuesday in the region semifinals. Cypress Bay is 2-1 vs. Western so far this season.</p> <p>Western eliminated Deerfield Beach in the quarterfinals.</p> <p><em>If you have high school basketball news, you can reach Pat Lammer via text at 954-661-9671.</em></p>