Dec. 1, 2008
• Patriot League Weekly Release (12-1-08)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Navy senior guard Kaleo Kina has been named the Patriot League Anaconda® Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday afternoon. It marks the first career Player of the Week award for the Phoenix, Ariz., native.
Kina had a big role in Navy's two wins last week. In the Mids' 76-51 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore last Tuesday, Kina scored 11 points with six rebounds, three assists and a steal in 34 minutes.
Kina then turned it on in the Mids' thrilling 73-71 overtime win over Radford on Saturday night. Kina scored a career-high 30 points, including 26 points after the halftime break, to lead the Mids to the victory. Kina added six rebounds, three steals and two assists. The 6-4 senior tallied six of his points in overtime, including two huge three-pointers to boost the Midshipmen's effort. His first three-pointer with 42 seconds left in regulation gave Navy a 63-61 lead. The Highlanders would tie the game with 25 seconds left, but his long ball with 20 seconds left in overtime proved to be game-winner as it gave Navy a 72-68 lead it would not relinquish.
Over the last four games, Kina is averaging 21.5 ppg and 6.0 rpg. His two best performances of the year have come in the last three games, as he also scored 26 points (all after halftime) in Navy's 102-99 triple-overtime win over William & Mary. He added six rebounds, four assists and a steal in just 33 minutes against the Tribe.
Kina leads Navy, and is second in the Patriot League, in scoring at 17.8 ppg. He is also second on the team in rebounding (5.7 rpg) and assists (15) and paces the squad with nine steals.
Kina ranks 17th on the school's career scoring list (1,094) and needs just six assists to become the seventh player in Patriot League history to score 1,000 points, dish out 300 assists and record 150 career steals.
Army's Julian Simmons was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week.
Navy will host Texas-San Antonio on Tuesday night, beginning at 7:00 pm, in Alumni Hall. For ticket information, call the Navy ticket office at 1-800-US4-NAVY. Fans bringing an unwrapped toy for "Toys for Tots" will receive a free ticket to the game.
# GO NAVY #
