The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards drew firepower from Roi Sumang and tripped the Batangas City Embassy Chill Athletics, 68-56, on Monday in the OKBet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Fifth Season at the Batangas City Coliseum.
Sumang poured all of his 16 points in the second half as the defending champions shattered a 31-31 tie at halftime and proceeded to notch their 13th win against one loss in the single round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.
In other games, Zamboanga Family’s Brand Sardines overpowered Bataan, 74-55, climbed to 11-3., while the GenSan Warriors banked on John Wilson’s 19 points, laced by 5 triples, to nip the Iloilo United Royals, 86-84, and rose to 9-4 in the opener.
Batangas’ Jeckster Apinan scored the third quarter’s first bucket, but Sumang drove in to trigger a 13-point Nueva Ecija avalanche from which the Athletics were never able to recover and suffer their third loss in 14 games.
Sumang’s 3 triples out of 5 tries and Chris Bitoon’s 2 of 3 performance enabled Nueva Ecija to score 24 points from long range that turned out to be decisive as Batangas could only convert 1 of 20 triple tries.
Mike Juico also delivered for Nueva Ecija coach Jerson Cabiltes with 10 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals and so did Bitoon with 10 points plus 3 assists.
Judel Fuentes, twins Jaycee and Jayvee Marcelino and Dexter Maiquez carried the offensive load while new acquisition Joseph Gabayni reigned underneath as Zamboanga led from the start and was never threatened by Bataan, which tumbled to 6-9.
Fuentes fired a game-high 19 points, followed by Jaycee with 16 plus 7 assists and 6 rebounds, Jayvee with 13 points plus 5 rebounds, and Maiquez with 11 points plus 9 rebounds. Gabayni scored only 7 but compensated with 11 rebounds that gave Zamboanga a 49-36 edge off both boards.
