MPBL: Nueva Ecija stretches streak; Pasig triumphs

MANILA, Philippines – Nueva Ecija continued to flaunt its strength with a 107-81 crushing of Imus Monday night in the OKBet-MPBL 4th Season presented by Extreme at the the Batangas City Coliseum.

The star-studded Rice Vanguards surged ahead by as many as 33 points, 105-72, on a lay-up by homegrown John Arenas with 2:09 seconds left to tally their fourth straight victory in as many starts.

John Bryon Villarias again sparkled for the Rice Vanguards with 18 points and five steals while Michael Mabulac did his share with 15 points and nine rebounds.

They were supported by Will McAloney and Renz Palma with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Imus, which tumbled to 1-3, got 19 points from homegrown icon Ian Melencio and 16 points from Adrian Celada.

Resurgent Pasig bested San Juan, 68-64, in the tight nightcap to rev up its drive in the 22-team tournament.

Trailing, 63-64, with 1:10 to go, the Realtors blanked the Knights the rest of the way and knocked in 5 points to preserve their third straight victory after dropping their first game.

Jun Manzo canned his two charities to push Pasig back on top after which Carlo Lastimosa drilled in a jumper for a 67-64 count with still 26 seconds to go.

The Realtors tightened up their defenses to force a turnover by Clint Dominguez, who gave up a foul on Marc Tamayo, with time down to 18 seconds.

Tamayo missed the first but converted the second for the final tally that pushed San Juan down to 1-3.

Lastimosa scored 22 points and Manzo 18 to complement the 13-point, 13-rebound effort of Jason Melano.

San Juan got 18 points and 9 rebounds from Jammer Jamito and 12 points plus 4 rebounds from 6-foot-7 Christian Bunag of the Mapua Cardinals.

The MPBL goes to the Bacoor Strike Gym on Tuesday with a triple-bill featuring the debuting Bacoor Strikers against the Mindoro Tamaraws (0-5) at 9 p.m.

Other games pit Makati (1-3) against Laguna (0-1) at 5 p.m. and Sarangani (4-0) against GenSan (1-3) at 7 p.m. Both Sarangani and GenSan are being supported by OKBet.