Raymundo fuels Rice Vanguards

Nueva Ecija, Biñan and Parañaque tripped separate rivals and boosted their respective playoff drives in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Sixth Season at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna late Wednesday.

The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards leaned on their tight defense in the second half to subdue the Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters, 66-58, in the second game while Biñan Tatak Gel needed a closing scoring binge to subdue Davao Occidental, 75-66, in the nightcap.

The opening game saw the Parañaque Patriots flaunt their sharpest form yet in a 110-83 thrashing of the Negros Muscovados.

Nueva Ecija, the 2022 champion, held Batangas, the 2018 inaugural titlist, to 15 points in the third quarter and just 12 in the fourth while coming through with a 35-point total to recover from an 82-99 beating by Biñan on 20 August and climb to 19-3 in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 29-team tournament.

Barely ahead, 60-61, Biñan unloaded 13 points through Pamboy Raymundo and Jeric James Pido against just three by Davao to seal its fifth straight win and rise to 16-8, keeping its distance from Parañaque which jumped to 15-9.

Raymundo posted 21 points, spiked by five triples, four rebounds, three assists and three steals to earn the Daily Fantasy best player honors as Biñan inched closer to Batangas, which dropped to 17-8.

Veteran Marc Pingris supported Raymundo with 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks and so did Carlo Lastimosa with 10 points, four assists and three rebounds.

Davao got 12 points each from Keith Agovida and Kenneth Ighalo and 10 points each from Kurt Lojera and Chris Lalata, who grabbed nine rebounds.

Nueva Ecija, which trails only Pampanga (23-1) and San Juan (22-1) in the North Division as well as the overall standings drew 13 points from John Wilson, all in the second half, 12 points from Robby Celiz, and 10 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks from Will McAloney.

Batangas drew 15 points from Levi Hernandez and 11 from MJ Dela Virgen.

Parañaque, with all of its 15 players scoring, pulled Negros down to 12-14 with the Muscovados hanging on to the eighth and last playoff slot in the South Division.