2022 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 2022 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards season | |
|---|---|
MPBL champions | |
Division champions | |
| Head coach | Jerson Cabiltes |
| Arena(s) | Nueva Ecija Coliseum |
| Results | |
| Record | 21–0 (1.000) |
| Place | Division: 1st (North) |
| Playoff finish | MPBL champions (won vs. Zamboanga, 3–1) |
| Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards seasons | |
The 2022 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards season was the second season of the franchise in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL).
The Rice Vanguards sought to improve from their previous 10–20 campaign. On July 5, they would play in their inaugural home game, in which they would equalize their previous season's record in win percentage.[1] They would then surpass that with their eighth win on July 12.[2] Showing dominance across the board, the 2022 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards became the first team in league history to achieve a regular season sweep. This came following their 21st win against the Batangas City Embassy Chill at home on October 7.[3]
Nueva Ecija began their playoff campaign with sweeps against Marikina and Pampanga before facing the San Juan Knights in the North Division finals.[4][5] In game 1, San Juan dealt Nueva Ecija their first loss of the entire season before the Rice Vanguards would then win the next two games to advance to the 2022 national finals against the Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines.[6] After winning the first two games, the team would lose game 3, but eventually seal the championship with a game 4 victory.[7]
The team played all of their home games at Nueva Ecija Coliseum in Palayan.
Schedule
Nueva Ecija was one of 22 teams that took part in the 2021 MPBL Invitational. They would reach the finals against the Basilan Jumbo Plastic, who they would lose to in overtime.
| 2021 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards Invitational schedule | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stage | Game | Date | Opponent | Score | Location | Record | Recap |
| Group stage | 1 | December 12 | Sarangani | W 99–92 | SM Mall of Asia Arena | 1–0 | |
| 2 | December 16 | Valenzuela | W 100–77 | SM Mall of Asia Arena | 2–0 | ||
| 3 | December 19 | San Juan | W 88–85 | SM Mall of Asia Arena | 3–0 | ||
| 4 | December 20 | Muntinlupa | W 84–72 | SM Mall of Asia Arena | 4–0 | ||
| Playoffs | QF | December 21 | Iloilo | W 84–67 | SM Mall of Asia Arena | 5–0 | |
| SF | December 22 | Imus City | W 82–76 | SM Mall of Asia Arena | 6–0 | ||
| F | December 23 | Basilan | L 80–83 | SM Mall of Asia Arena | 6–1 | ||
| Source: Schedule | |||||||