For the seventh straight game, the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards looked every bit of a champion squad and against home team Caloocan, this formidable quintet from Central Luzon appeared determined to reclaim the MPBL crown.
The Rice Vanguards dealt their rivals a sound beating, 73-53, as Jaycee Marcelino provided the spunk needed by his team, which coasted to its seventh straight win and remained unblemished in the league’s 2025 Season at the Caloocan Sports Complex.
Marcelino pumped in 16 markers to go along with five assists and sparked the Rice Vanguards’ domination of one of the league’s contenders.
Earlier, defending champion Pampanga found stiff resistance against the league’s newest franchise, Ilagan Isabela, but the bigger, more experienced Giant Lanterns held on to preserve a 77-72 win.
Larry Muyang, who formed the triple-tower front court along with Jhaymo Eguilos and Cris Lalata, posted yet another double-double performance of 17 points and 11 boards.
A homegrown player, Muyang also hit 7-of-11 shots from the field.
The Valenzuela Classics, on the other hand, leaned on Jan Formento and Kobe Monje to subdue the Gensan Warriors, 96-91, in overtime on Wednesday.
Formento and Monje fired six points each to negate the eight-point outburst of Gensan’s Larry Rodriguez in the extension period and lift the Classics to a 3-3 slate in the round-robin elimination phase of the 30-team tournament.
Gensan threatened at 89-90 following a triple by Rodriguez, but Louie Vigil canned a jumper, Monje got free under, and JR Alabanza made his second free throw to ensure Valenzuela’s victory, 95-89, with 31 seconds left.
