MANILA, Philippines – Kai Sotto upped his game in his first home appearance for the Hiroshima Dragonflies in a 102-95 victory over the Kyoto Hannaryz in the 2022-23 B. League season at the Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall on Wednesday.
Sotto fell two rebounds short of a double-double after he came out with a team-high 20 points on an efficient 9-of-14 shooting clip.
He also had eight rebounds and a steal in more than 22 minutes of action as a starter.
Kyoto Filipino reinforcement Matthew Wright also had a big game with 26 points, two rebounds, eight assists and two steals.
But it was Sotto who was able to lift his team to victory as Hiroshima scored a bounce-back win and improved to 29-11 for the season.
Kyoto, for their part, fell to 16-24.
Elsewhere, Carl Tamayo made his B. League debut for the Ryukyu Golden Kings as he played for almost 10 minutes off the bench in the Golden Kings' 79-74 victory over an undermanned Nagoya Diamond Dolphins at Okinawa Arena.
After riding the bench in Ryukyu's last win, Tamayo finished with five points, one rebound and one steal in his limited minutes as Ryukyu bumped up their record to 31-9.
Nagoya, meanwhile, played a thin rotation with only eight players available. Filipino reinforcement Ray Parks Jr. was not available for Nagoya as they fell to a wire-to-wire loss against Tamayo's Golden Kings.
Nagoya fell to 27-13.
In the other games, Ravena brothers Kiefer and Thirdy both absorbed losses.
Thirdy's San-En failed to squeak past Sunrockers Shibuya as they lost, 81-78, at the Toyohashi City Gymnasium.
Thirdy tallied an all-around game of 10 points, six boards and seven assists but could not help his team to victory as they saw their record bumped down to 17-23.
They have lost four of their last five games.
The sorrows also continued for the Shiga Lakes as they came tumbling down to their 35th loss in the season against only five victories as they absorbed a blowout loss to the Osaka Evessa, 101-71 at Shiga Daihatsu Arena.
It was also a miserable night on shooting for Kiefer as he couldn't knock down a bucket and went scoreless in over 25 minutes of play.
He did tally five rebounds, two assists and a block in the Shiga loss.
Dwight Ramos, for his part, finished with eight points, four rebounds, and an assist as a starter as the Levanga Hokkaido stumbled against the Chiba Jets, 94-80, at Funabashi Arena.
Ramos and Hokkaido saw their win streak snapped at two games and fall to 10-30.