MANILA, Philippines — Kai Sotto broke out of his personal slump on offense with his best game of the season, but the Adelaide 36ers found themselves on the wrong end of a blowout against the New Zealand Breakers, 99-70, at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday.
Sotto led his team in scoring with a season-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go along with five rebounds in the lopsided loss.
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The 7-foot-3 big man scored seven of his scoring output in the second salvo and nailed a basket to tie the game at 29-all with 7:14 left in the quarter.
Adelaide also briefly took the lead with a Daniel Johnson layup right after, but the Breakers uncorked a quick 7-0 run to retake the advantage.
Sotto was subbed out halfway into the second quarter.
By halftime, the 36ers were trailing by eight, 38-46.
But it was a 13-3 run by the Breakers to open the third period that did Adelaide in.
Sotto was able to pad his stat sheet for an impressive individual game in the fourth salvo. Unfortunately for him and his teammates, New Zealand were already comfortably ahead by that time.
Barry Brown Jr. and Jarrell Brantley paced the Breakers with 22 markers each in the win.
The Breakers improved to 5-2 while the 36ers evened their slate at 2-2.