Kai Sotto and Hiroshima completed their weekend sweep of Matthew Wright and Kyoto in the 2022-23 B.League Season, taking a 76-63 victory, Sunday at Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall.
After putting up 14 points in their 92-76 triumph against Kyoto on Saturday, Sotto picked up where he left off and flirted with a double-double of 11 points on 50-percent shooting, eight rebounds, and three blocks.
Wright, meanwhile, bounced back from his lackluster showing and was one of two Kyoto players to score in double figures with 14 points, on top of three rebounds, two assists, and three steals.
Looking to push its winning streak further to four games, Hiroshima took the fight out of Kyoto early as it quickly built a double-digit cushion at the end of the first frame, 20-8.
Kyoto managed to climb back and pull within just a single possession, 41-44, midway through the third quarter, before Hiroshima once again stepped on the gas to bring its lead back to twin digits, 59-48, early in the payoff period.
Dwayne Evans II led Hiroshima’s balanced attack with 12 points, while Nick Mayo and Kerry Blackshear Jr. scored 11 apiece.
Cheick Diallo was once again the other bright spot for Kyoto as he posted a double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds.
With the win, the Dragonflies tied the Alvark Tokyo at the fourth spot with a 35-12 record, while the Hannaryz fell to 16-31.
Over at Toyohashi City Gymnasium, Thirdy Ravena’s best game for San-En this season went down the drain as they bowed to Toyama, 81-66.
Thirdy, who only had 5 points in San-En’s 79-73 win over the same opponents on Saturday, shot a perfect 9-of-9 clip from two-point area en route to a season-high 25 points, to go along with a well-rounded stat line of seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
San-En fell to 19-28.
Kiefer and Shiga, meanwhile, could not complete a brace of wins against Yokohama, falling 93-84, at Shiga Daihatsu Arena.
Kiefer’s 15 points, five assists, and two steals went for naught as the Lakes fell to 10-37.
Dwight Ramos tallied 10 points, three steals, and a block in Hokkaido’s 85-77 loss to Niigata over at at City Hall Plaza Ao-re Nagaoka. This is Levanga’s 34th loss in 47 games.
Finally, Carl Tamayo only logged two minutes in Ryukyu’s 78-76 upset of Chiba at Chiba Port Arena.
The Golden Kings rose to a 37-10 record.
Over in Division 2, Jordan Heading once again shot the lights out from three-point land to carry Nagasaki to an 84-79 win over Saga at SAGA Plaza General Gymnasium.
Coming off a 20-point outing on Saturday, Heading exploded for 24 points this time on very efficient 4-of-6 shooting from deep.
The Velca picked up their fourth straight win and improved to a 39-15 card.
Greg Slaughter tallied five points and a rebound in Fukuoka’s 69-63 win over Kagawa at Teriha Sekisui House Arena.
The Rizing Zephyr extended their cushion to the Five Arrows in the standings to two games.
