Nueva Ecija overcame Zamboanga's final assault to book a 75-74 victory and move a win away from clinching the OKBet-Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League 4th Season title late Monday at the Nueva Ecija Coliseum in Palayan City.
The Rice Vanguards, who posted a convincing 81-75 victory in Game 1, survived a furious Zamboanga rally in the crucial stretch to escape with a thrilling victory in Game 2 of this best-of-five title series.
Nueva Ecija has a chance to wrap up the series in Game 3 on Friday when the series flies to the Vitaliano Agan Coliseum in Zamboanga City.
It was another display of depth and cohesion for Nueva Ecija, which leaned on the third-quarter explosion of Jay Collado, the gutsy plays of Michael Juico and the steady free throw shooting of Chris Bitoon and Hesed Gabo in the fourth period to frustrate Zamboanga, who surged ahead with a 20-9 spurt in the early going.
Juico scrambled for 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds and three steals to emerge as the best player of game.
Collado, who drilled three three-pointers to push Nueva Ecija ahead, 58-50, wound up with 13 points and six rebounds while Michael Mabulac chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Gabo, who canned his two charities in the final 7.7 seconds, ended up with seven points and three assists.
Jaycee Marcelino, whose closing triple pegged the final count, finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals for Zamboanga, which also got 12 points from Chito Jaime, eight points from Chris Dumapig and seven points and four assists from Jayvee Marcelino.
Zamboanga moved ahead, 34-27, but Nueva Ecija countered with an 8-point run, the last seven by Villarias to wrest the lead.
A follow-up by Chris Dumapig, however, gave back Zamboanga the upper hand, 38-35, before Nueva Ecija's Pamboy Raymundo rounded up the halftime scoring with two charities.
Before the game, the MPBL honored this season's standouts led by Mythical Team members William McAloney and Hesed Gabo of Nueva Ecija, Jaycee Marcelino of Zamboanga, Judel Fuentes of San Juan and Cedric Ablaza of Batangas City.
Also recognized were Kyt Jimenez of Sarangani Marlins as Rookie of the Year, Archie Concepcion of Pampanga Giant Lanterns as Homegrown Player of the Year, Jay-R Taganas of Nueva Ecija as Sportsmanship awardee and Mark Yee of Bacolod as Defensive Player of the Year.
Nueva Ecija team owner Bong Cuevas was named the Lucio Tan Jr. MPBL Executive of the Year.
MPBL commissioner Kenneth Duremdes presented the individual trophies and incentives to the Mythical Five and Cuevas.