On Saturday at the Nueva Ecija Coliseum in Palayan City, the quarterfinal round of the OKBet-MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 4th Season Presented by Xtreme was played. Both Nueva Ecija and Pampanga prevailed in their respective games, but in very different ways.
In the first games of the best-of-three playoffs for the North division, the Rice Vanguards defeated the Marikina Shoemasters by a score of 103-71, while the Giant Lanterns prevailed over the Bataan Risers by a score of 82-75. Both games took place on Sunday.
The Rice Vanguards, who finished first in the single round-robin elimination phase with a perfect 21-game record, and the Giant Lanterns, who came in fourth place among the North qualifiers, will both be competing against the same teams at the Bren Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga, on Saturday, October 22, in the hopes of advancing to the semifinals.
Nueva Ecija eclipsed the 21-game win streak that Crispa achieved during its PBA Grand Slam season in 1983 when it extended its unbeaten record to 22 games and won all of them.
After building up a lead of as much as 36 points, 101-65, in the fourth quarter against the Shoemasters, the eighth and final team to qualify from the North, the star-studded Rice Vanguards eventually began to ease off on their intensity.
The coach of the Nueva Ecija team, Jerson Cabiltes, had the luxury of changing the 15 players available to him after the game was under control. Of those 15 players, just one did not score.
Michael Mabulac led Nueva Ecija with 15 points and seven rebounds, while homegrown superstars Bobby Balucanag and John Arenas scored 12 and 11 points, respectively. Renz Palma led Nueva Ecija in scoring with 16 points and three steals. Michael Mabulac was next with 15 points.
The three players who scored the most points for Marikina were Enzo Joson, Mark Terrence Garcia, and Ryan Sual.
Pampanga, in contrast to Nueva Ecija, was put to the test by Bataan and needed a fourth-quarter explosion by go-to-guy Archie Concepcion in order to emerge victorious. Nueva Ecija easily handled Bataan.
Concepcion scored 13 of his game-high 21 points during that stretch to propel the Giant Lanterns to victory. Dominick Vera, Jammer Jamito, and Christopher Lagrama were also key contributors for the Giant Lanterns.
Jamito added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Lagrama contributed nine points, all of which came from three-point shots. Vera contributed 18 points, including four triples.
Gio Espuelas scored 18 points for Bataan, while Kristoffer Torrado contributed 14, Ronjay Lastimosa contributed 13, and James Darwin Castro contributed 11 points.
At the Vitaliano Agan Coliseum in Zamboanga City on the first day of the second round of the MPBL playoffs for the South division. The fight between Zamboanga Family’s Brand Sardines and Muntinlupa will take place at 9 o’clock in the evening, after a match between GenSan and Bacolod will take place at 6:30 p.m.
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