The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards woke up in time to frustrate the San Juan Knights, 81-75, on Tuesday and kept their clean slate in the OKbet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 4th Season presented by Xtreme at the overcrowded Nueva Ecija Coliseum in Palayan City.
Trailing for the most part, the Rice Vanguards dropped 13 points while holding the Knights to a triple in the last 4 minutes to steal their second home victory and climb to 8-0 in the overall standings of the 22-team, 2-division tournament.
Hesed Gabo poured 6 of his 16 points, Will McAloney added 4 of his game-high 24, while Jay Collado canned a 3 in that span to save the game for Nueva Ecija, which got tested to the hilt by San Juan after seven breezy victories.
Other games saw Muntinlupa blow a 23-point lead and settle for a 65-64 squeaker over Bacoor, and Quezon City MG Cars trounce Mindoro, 88-83.
Nueva Ecija’s rousing comeback spoiled Justin Gutang’s last performance for San Juan this season.
Gutang, who accounted for 12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, will be leaving soon to join Changwon LG in the Korean Basketball League.
Trailing, 63-54, at the start of the fourth quarter, the Rice Vanguards fought even harder when head coach Jerson Cabiltes got ejected before the start of the fourth quarter on account of 2 credited technical fouls committed by his players.
The departure of Cabiltes and the very supportive overflow crowd spurred the Rice Vanguards to action under assistant coach Gonzalo Catalan as they poured 27 points in the last 10 minutes against the Knights’ 12.
Domark Matillano scored the game’s last 4 points to give Muntinlupa its first win in 2 starts while pulling down Bacoor to 2-3.
Matillano wound up with 20 points and 9 rebounds followed by John Cantimbulan Jr. with 15 points and 7 assists, Justin Alano with 11 points and 5 rebounds, and Harold Arboleda with 8 points and 12 rebounds.
Bacoor got 13 points from Paolo Castro, 12 from Mark Pangilinan and 9 from Mark Mantuano.
Quezon City, which climbed to 3-3, was led by Jerick Nacpil with 17 points and 7 rebounds, Marlon Monte with 12 points, James Martinez 9 and Marcy Arellano 9 plus 10 assists and 8 rebounds.
