BACOLOD City--Nueva Ecija made sure there will be no need to scramble this time as it beat Valenzuela, 68-61, on Tuesday in the OKbet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 4th Season presented by Xtreme at the University of St. La Salle Gym.
MPBL news
Learning from the triple-overtime they had to go through before subduing Bacolod Bingo Plus, 81-74, on Monday, the Rice Vanguards stormed ahead, 16-2, early in the game and never relinquished the lead to post their 10th straight win in as many starts in the single round-robin elimination phase of the 22-team tournament.
John Byron Villarias, who played savior for Nueva Ecija against Bacolod, again led the Rice Vanguards in scoring with 12 points.
Michael Juico supported Villarias with 10 points plus 5 rebounds, followed by Will McAloney with 8 points and 7 rebounds and Jonathan Uyloan and Bobby Balucanag with 7 points each.
Michael Mabulac scored only five points but collared 11 rebounds for the Rice Vanguards, who welcomed back head Coach Jerson Cabiltes after serving a one-game suspension due to two technical fouls he incurred during Nueva's Ecija's victory over San Juan.
Nueva Ecija pulled away, 66-51, before relaxing its defenses and enabling Valenzuela to close the gap even if it fell to 4-6.
Valenzuela got 15 points from Lord Hower Casajeros, 14 points and 11 rebounds from homegrown Jaymar Gimpayan, 13 points from Patrick Cabahug and 10 points from Lester Alvarez.
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