The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards overcame a late surge from the Zamboanga City Master Sardines for an 83-80 escape in the 2024 MPBL Season on late Saturday night at the Nueva Ecija Coliseum.
Nueva Ecija were on top, 81-71, with over a minute left, but Zamboanga City rallied to within 76-81 with 58 seconds left on a perimeter basket and three free throws from Renzo Subido.
The Rice Vanguards extended the lead to 82-76 on a split free throw by Mer Jesper Ayaay, but Zamboanga City responded with back-to-back hits from Jaycee Marcelino and Ralph Tansingco to cut the deficit to 80-82.
Nueva Ecija made it an 83-80 count after a split free throw by Robby Celiz, but Subido missed on two three-point attempts at the final buzzer for Zamboanga City.
William McAloney top-scored for the Rice Vanguards with 16 points, Emman Calo added 15 markers, and Celiz and Chris Bitoon ended with 12 each as they remained undefeated at 10-0.
“Facing Zamboanga City, we expect that it will be a tough game since ‘yung players nila hindi rin basta basta,” McAloney said. “We just stayed aggressive on scoring, rebounding, and other aspects of the game, kaya kami nanalo.”
Marcelino led the way with 24 points, five rebounds, four steals, and three assists, while Rey Barcuma and Subido ended with 12 and 11 points, respectively, as Zamboanga City dropped to 9-3.
Meanwhile, the 1Bataan Risers (4-8) returned to their winning ways with a dominant 93-61 victory over the Imus Agimat VA Drones (0-12). Mitchelle Maynes led the way with 12 points for the Risers.
The post MPBL: Nueva Ecija subdues Zamboanga, stretches winning run to 10 games first appeared on Fastbreak.
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