The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards drew firepower from Roi Sumang and tripped the Batangas City Embassy Chill Athletics, 68-56, on Monday, June 19, in the OKBet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) Fifth Season at the Batangas City Coliseum.

Judel Fuentes sparkles for Zamboanga. (MPBL Images)

Sumang poured all of his 16 points in the second half as the defending champions shattered a 31-31 tie at halftime and proceeded to notch their 13th win against one loss in the single round-robin elimination phase of the 29-team tournament.

Batangas' Jeckster Apinan scored the third quarter's first bucket, but Sumang drove in to trigger a 13-point Nueva Ecija avalanche from which the Athletics were never able to recover and suffer their third loss in 14 games.

The Athletics came to within 49-56 on Juneric Baloria's 4-point cluster, only for Sumang, a former stalwart of the University of the East Red Warriors, to quash their hopes with back-to-back triples that gave the Rice Vanguards their biggest spread, 62-49, with 4 minutes and 35 seconds left.

Sumang's three triples out of five tries and Chris Bitoon's two of three performance enabled Nueva Ecija to score 24 points from long range that turned out to be decisive as Batangas could only convert 1 of 20 triple tries.

Mike Juico also delivered for Nueva Ecija coach Jerson Cabiltes with 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals and so did Bitoon with 10 points plus three assists.

Batangas, the MPBL Anta Rajah Cup inaugural titlist, got 14 points, nine rebounds, four steals plus three assists from Apinan, and 14 points, three rebounds and two steals from Baloria.

The Nueva Ecija-Batangas encounter was halted for nearly 30 minutes after the break as a heavy downpour opened up roof leaks and damped some parts of the playing court. Fortunately, the rains stopped and MPBL Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes allowed the game to continue.

Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines overpowered Bataan, 74-55, earlier and climbed to 11-3.

Judel Fuentes, twins Jaycee and Jayvee Marcelino and Dexter Maiquez carried the offensive load while new acquisition Joseph Gabayni reigned underneath as Zamboanga led from the start and was never threatened by Bataan, which tumbled to 6-9.

Fuentes fired a game-high 19 points, followed by Jaycee with 16 plus seven assists and six rebounds, Jayvee with 13 points plus five rebounds, and Maiquez with 11 points plus nine rebounds. Gabayni scored only seven but compensated with 11 rebounds that gave Zamboanga a 49-36 edge off both boards.

The GenSan Warriors banked on John Wilson's 19 points, laced by five triples, to nip the Iloilo United Royals, 86-84, and rose to 9-4 in the opener.

Iloilo tasted its fifth straight defeat and fell to 5-10 despite the 25-point outburst of Joshua Flores,
The MPBL returns to the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan on Tuesday with a triple bill pitting Valenzuela against Bicol at 4 p.m., Pampanga against Rizal at 6 p.m., and Imus against San Juan at 8 p.m.