Nueva Ecija battered South Cotabato, 94-75, on Friday in the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Sixth Season at the Orion Sports Complex in Bataan.
Powered by Robby Celiz, the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards led by as far as 77-52 early in the fourth quarter and never wavered en route to their 21st win against 3 losses in the round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.
Celiz posted 20 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists to clinch the Daily Fantasy best player honors over Mer Jasper Ayaay with 13 points and Jay Collado with 12 points. June Kenneth Mocon and JC Cullar added 10 points each for the 2022 MPBL champions.
South Cotabato, which skidded to 15-11, got 12 points each from Chris Dumapig and Jervy Cruz and 11 points from Kyle Tolentino.
Jammer Jamito scored 9 but grabbed 15 rebounds as South Cotabato ruled the boards, 50-37.
Nueva Ecija, however, compensated with a high 53.7 field goal percentage (27 of 44) against South Cotabato’s 32.4 percent (15 of 33) to stay within sight of North Division and overall pacesetters San Juan (23-1) and Pampanga (24-2).
Earlier, Quezon Province dumped Muntinlupa, 88-31, to climb to 19-5 and regain top spot in the South Division.
The Quezon Huskers held the Muntinlupa Cagers to an all-time low of 3 points in the second quarter and pulled down their victims to 7-19.
Homegrown icon Topeng Lagrama led the Huskers with 16 points, highlighted by a perfect 4 of 4 triple shooting, followed by Gab Banal with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals, and Judel Fuentes and Rodel Gravera with 10 points each.
The elimination round takes a break to give way for the MPBL All-Star Game on Sept. 7 in Zamboanga City. The regular schedule will resume on Monday, Sept. 9, with a triple bill pitting Pasay against Bicol at 4 p.m., Caloocan against Quezon City at 6 p.m., and Davao against Quezon at 8 p.m.
