Sotto doubtful starter

Whether or not big man Kai Sotto will play against Brazil in the semifinal of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament today will be up to head coach Tim Cone.

Gilas Pilipinas team manager Richard del Rosario told DAILY TRIBUNE that the 7-foot-three center escaped any major injury after hurting his rib in a 94-96 loss to Georgia last Thursday in Riga, Latvia.

His status in the semifinal, however, will be a game-time decision.

“No fracture but it is still a game-time decision because he is still feeling some soreness in his chest,” Del Rosario said.

Sotto went down in pain with 6:42 left in the second quarter after colliding with Joe Thomasson.

He never returned to the game after that and was rushed to the hospital after the game to check the extent of his injury.

Sotto averaged 11 points, four rebounds and 0.5 assists in the first two games for Gilas.

The 22-year-old center’s best game so far was in Gilas’ 89-80 win over host Latvia last Thursday morning (Philippine time) where he scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 32 and a half minutes of action.

Despite losing Sotto, Gilas was able to recover from a 20-point deficit against the Georgians, who needed to win by 19 points or more to advance to the next round.

Carl Tamayo, CJ Perez, Kevin Quiambao and Japeth Aguilar stepped up off the bench to fill the void left by Sotto.