Kai Sotto, Dragonflies extend streak to 4, Tamayo's Golden Kings clinch playoff berth

MANILA, Philippines — Kai Sotto and the Hiroshima Dragonflies are now winners of four straight games as they scored a weekend sweep of the Kyoto Hannaryz, 76-63, at the Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall in the 2022-23 Japan B. League season on Sunday.

Sotto and the Dragonflies zoomed to an early lead as they led by 12, 20-8, at the end of the first salvo.

Sotto scored 11 points to go along with eight boards, one assist, and three blocks in the wire-to-wire victory for Hiroshima who improved their record to 35-12.

Matthew Wright finished with 14 markers, three rebounds, two assists, and three steals as Kyoto fell to 16-31, tallying their eighth straight defeat.

Elsewhere, Carl Tamayo and the Ryukyu Golden Kings clinched their spot in the playoffs with a 78-76 victory over the Chiba Jets.

They built an early 24-11 lead in the opening salvo to stave off the Jets and avoided a weekend sweep at Chiba Port Arena.

Tamayo went scoreless but had one assist in two minutes of play as the Golden Kings improved to 37-10.

In the other game, the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins continue to make do without Ray Parks, 70-61, at the CNA Arena in Akita.

Parks has been missing games due to injury. Nagoya improved to 34-13.

Other results saw Shiga Lakes' win streak snapped at four games as they fell to the Yokohama B-Corsairs, 93-84, at the Shiga Daihatsu Arena.

Kiefer Ravena finished with 15 points, one rebound, five assists, and two steals in the loss as they slid to 10-37.

His brother Thirdy also absorbed a loss as the San-En NeoPhoenix fell to the Toyama Grouses, 81-66, at the Toyohashi City Gymnasium.

Thirdy saw his all-around game of 25 points, seven rebounds, and five assists go down the drain as San-En fell to 19-28.

Dwight Ramos, for his part, had 10 points and one rebound in their 85-77 loss to the Niigata Albirex BB at the City Hall Plaza Ao-re Nagaoka.

Hokkaido dropped to 13-34.

Over in B2, Jordan Heading had a team-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting to help the Nagasaki Velca beat the Saga Ballooners, 84-79, at SAGA Plaza.

Nagasaki improved to 39-15 for the year.

Greg Slaughter, for his part, finished with five points, one rebound, and one block as the Rizing Zephyr Fukuoka nipped the Kagawa Five Arrows, 69-63, at the Teriha Sekisui House Arena.