KAI Sotto and Carl Tamayo take their high school rivalry to Japan as the Hiroshima Dragonflies and the Ryukyu Golden Kings face off in the resumption of the B.League on Wednesday.
Kai Sotto vs Carl Tamayo in B.League
A few years after their UAAP juniors battles pitting Ateneo and National University-Nazareth School, the Filipino stretch big men lock horns once again, this time as imports in the Japanese pro league.
Tipoff is at 6:35 p.m., Manila time, at the Okinawa Arena.
“Of course, I’m pretty excited. We just talked about it, Kai and I about playing in the pro now,” Tamayo said. “We have a chance to play against each other.”
“Hopefully we’ll have a great game,” the former University of the Philippines Maroons star added.
Tamayo already made his debut with Ryukyu last week when the Golden Kings saw action in the East Asia Super League Champions Week also in Japan, flashing a glimpse of his potential by scoring 13 points in the team’s second game, an 83-78 home win over the Taipei Fubon Braves.
This time, Tamayo makes his B.League entrance like Sotto, who signed with the Dragonflies last month.

Sotto and Tamayo’s careers have intertwined since high school. After splitting their two UAAP juniors’ championship series matchups in 2018 and 2019, they anchored the Philippine youth team to a spot in the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup in Heraklion, Greece.
Their national team linkup carried over to seniors division when they suited up for Gilas Pilipinas under coach Tab Baldwin in the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers in Clark and in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade in 2021.
They went their separate ways in their amateur and pro careers, with Tamayo being named UAAP Rookie of the Year after helping UP end its title drought of over three decades, while Sotto suited up for the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League in Australia.
Now, they meet each other again in Japan.
Their B.League teams are also close to each other. The Golden Kings are running fourth with a 29-9 record, while the Dragonflies are right behind at 28-10.
The rest of the Filipino imports in Division 1 are also seeing action on Wednesday in the league’s return from the international break of almost a month.
Dwight Ramos and Hokkaido face Ibaraki, while Ray Parks and Nagoya take on Kyoto. The Ravena brothers are likewise suiting up, with Thirdy’ San-en facing Mikawa, and Kiefer’s Shiga battling Shimane.
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