ADELAIDE pulled off a stunning upset of defending champion Melbourne United yesterday, with Kai Sotto having a share of the big moments.
The 7-foot-3 center sank a dagger of a jumper in the last 33.0 ticks that sealed the 36ers’ 88-83 decision in overtime over Melbourne United in Australia’s National Basketball League at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
Sotto scattered 12 points, to go with four rebounds and one assist in 21 minutes and 15 seconds of play for Adelaide, which snapped a three-game losing skid and improved to 4-3.
Dusty Hannahs led the way for the 36ers with 19 points, including eight in the extension.
He knotted the match at 74-all with 13.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter that forced overtime.
Todd Withers added 17 markers and five rebounds, while Cameron Bairstow had a double-double of 16 points and 12 boards.
Daniel Johnson also scored 12 as Adelaide halted Melbourne’s eight-game winning streak and dropped to 8-3.
Sotto had 12 points and two rebounds in the team’s 71-76 setback at the hands of Tasmania last Friday.
The 36ers tangle with the Brisbane Bullets this Thursday at the same venue.
Jo Lual-Acuil paced Melbourne United with 23 points, 12 rebounds, and two blocks, while Jack White had 18 points and 11 caroms in the defeat.
Sotto, 19, sat out in Adelaide’s first four games of the season due to soreness in his right knee. He also missed four preseason matches.
The 36ers came off a seventh-place finish with a 13-23 card in 2020 behind star Josh Giddey, who was chosen sixth overall by Oklahoma City in the NBA draft in July last year.
The NBL’s season was initially set to kick off last November but was mothballed due to travel issues and vaccination woes in Australia.
The league kicked off its new season last December.
The son of former pro Ervin, Sotto graduated from high school at Miami School in Hamilton, Ohio last April.
A former UAAP juniors’ MVP with Ateneo High School and a former Gilas Youth mainstay now proving his worth with the senior’s squad, Sotto left the country in 2019 to train at the Atlanta-based The Skills Factory.
