RIGA (Latvia) - Kai Sotto has been firmly in the spotlight and very much the focus of attention for Philippine basketball for some time now.
Ever since Ervin Sotto's son emerged on the scene, high hopes started to rapidly appear in his homeland.
On Wednesday night in Riga and far from home in Asia, the 22-year-old probably had the best night of his career.
Alongside his team mate and someone he referrred to as the "Michael Jordan of Philippine basketball" Justin Brownlee, there's no doubt the duo were the key factor in a tremendous 89-80 upset win against Latvia.
'History' can be an inflated word in sports, but how would you describe a victory that breaks a 64-year wait? The Philippines hadn't beaten a European national team in official FIBA competition since the Olympic Games in 1960 when they took down Spain 84-82.
With an extraordinary 40-minute performance near the Baltic Sea, they repeated that feat and most impressively, did it against the 6th-best team in the FIBA World Ranking presented by Nike.
After going close to a double-double with 18 points and 8 rebounds when dominating the paint, Sotto expressed all his satisfaction after the final buzzer had sounded.
"We expected a great game, we know how tough Latvia is. They're one of the top 10 teams in the world. We knew we had to bring our A-Game, giving our 100% effort," he commented.
"After this game, I have to reflect on myself and my game. I just got to watch it again and see where I can improve more. I'm still not content with my performance today," emphasized Sotto, perhaps underlining that much needed hunger in any elite athlete to strive for more.
While praising Brownlee, he also found time to speak highly of Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone.
"He's one of the greatest minds in basketball history," declared Sotto.
"He's maybe one of the best coaches I've played for. We're very blessed and happy!"
He also managed to achieve such a sensational win next to one of his idols growing up, June Mar Fajardo. However, he would have loved to go up against another one of his totems.
"I watched and idolized [Kristaps] Porzingis growing up," he told Sportsacentrs.com's Kristian Dilans after the encounter.
"He's one of the players I look up to, I was really looking forward to playing against him. Maybe in the future."
He may have not played against the Unicorn, but the Latvian phenomenon must have taken notes. Like the whole of the Philippines that stayed up at night - a historic night.
Now Sotto and Co will to try and extend their Olympic dream as they look to wrap up a Semi-Finals berth in their last group matchup against Georgia.
FIBA