Kai Sotto limited to four points in Adelaide's third straight loss

By NIKOLE JAVIER
The start of the year hasn’t been pleasing for Kai Sotto’s stat lines.
Sotto and the Adelaide 36ers continued to struggle following a 112-97 loss to the Perth Wildcats in the National Basketball League in Australia on Saturday, Jan. 14, at the RAC Arena.
The Filipino import had another dismal outing after finishing with four points in a 2-of-7 shooting including three rebounds and two blocks in 10 minutes and 41 seconds of playing time.
The 36ers couldn’t fully crawl back from a 32-point deficit in the third quarter.
In his eighth time starting for Adelaide, the 7-foot-3 center had a promising start after catching an alley-oop followed by a dunk 40 seconds apart in the seven-minute mark of the opening period.
However, the Wildcats would go on to charge a damaging assault in the next five minutes of the first period with a 20-4 run, 32-17.
From then on, the 36ers could barely get hold of the momentum to shift back to their side.
Despite scoring its highest quarter of the year of 34 in the fourth, Adelaide couldn't catch Perth to suffer its third straight defeat.
“Although we came out and went toe to toe at the start of the game and clearly in the first five minutes. We went inside out, Kai was really good for us and a big target. And then second five minutes was a 20-4 run. We weren’t able to keep the scoreboard pressure at the other end of the floor,” said Adelaide head coach CJ Bruton.
Robert Franks paced the 36ers with 25 points apart from five rebounds as they slid into a deeper 11-12 hole.
Meanwhile, Brady Manek delivered a double-double performance of 23 points and 10 rebounds for Perth as it improved 12-10 in the standings.
Sotto and his team will attempt to come out of the slump when they take on the Brisbane Bullets (5-17) on Thursday, Jan. 19.