FILIPINO cager Kai Sotto put up a solid performance but his Adelaide 36ers fell to New Zealand Breakers 83-85 on Sunday in Australia's 2022-2023 National Basketball League season at the Adelaide Entertainment Center.

Starting for the seventh straight time, Sotto, 20, made the most of his more than 22 minutes of action on the court before another 36ers' record home crowd of 9,368 fans.

The 7-foot-3 center logged 16 points on an efficient 8-of-12 shooting from the field with five rebounds and two blocks to boot.

Sotto's stat line, however, went down the drain as Adelaide could not complete its comeback bid after being down by nine points 76-85 in the last 3:25.

The 36ers scored seven straight points capped by an Antonius Cleveland dunk with 1:14 left to pull within two, 83-85.

Adelaide still got itself two more chances to take the lead and win the game but flubbed them both.

The first of the two opportunities saw Anthony Drmic miss his three-point attempt at the 44-second mark, and the second saw former NBA player Ian Clark also clanking his triple in the last nine seconds.

Robert Franks unleashed 20 points, 13 rebounds and three steals to lead the way for the 36ers, who fell to an 11-10 win-loss card at the sixth spot.

On the other hand, Barry Brown Jr. cashed in 16 points and three assists to pace the Breakers, who stayed in second place of the 10-team league with a 13-6 slate.