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. They would then surpass that with their eighth win on July 12. 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.
Nueva Ecija began their playoff campaign with sweeps against Marikina and Pampanga before facing the San Juan Knights in the North Division finals. 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. After winning the first two games, the team would lose game 3, but eventually seal the championship with a game 4 victory.
The team played all of their home games at Nueva Ecija Coliseum in Palayan.
Preseason 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.
Schedule 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
Regular season Standings
Schedule 2022 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards season schedule Game Date Opponent Score Location Record Recap 1 May 23 Mindoro W 98–68 Bahayang Pag-asa Sports Complex 1–0 2 June 4 General Santos W 95–83 San Andres Sports Complex 2–0 3 June 7 Makati W 84–43 Caloocan Sports Complex 3–0 4 June 13 Imus City W 107–81 Batangas City Coliseum 4–0 5 June 18 Quezon City W 93–77 Caloocan Sports Complex 5–0 6 July 2 Sarangani W 87–79 Orion Sports Complex 6–0 7 July 5 Laguna W 109–79 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 7–0 8 July 12 San Juan W 81–75 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 8–0 9 July 18 Bacolod W 81–74 La Salle Coliseum 9–0 10 July 19 Valenzuela W 68–61 La Salle Coliseum 10–0 11 July 26 Bacoor City W 87–76 Paco Arena 11–0 12 July 30 Bataan W 79–65 Caloocan Sports Complex 12–0 13 August 8 Zamboanga W 81–76 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 13–0 14 August 15 Marikina W 99–77 Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center 14–0 15 August 23 Muntinlupa W 102–85 Batangas City Coliseum 15–0 16 August 29 Rizal W 83–64 Santa Rosa Sports Complex 16–0 17 September 13 Manila W 85–58 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 17–0 18 September 19 Caloocan W 103–86 Caloocan Sports Complex 18–0 19 September 23 Pampanga W 80–74 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 19–0 20 September 28 Pasig City W 77–66 Laguna Sports Complex 20–0 21 October 7 Batangas City W 84–72 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 21–0 Source: Schedule
Playoffs
Schedule 2022 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards playoff schedule Round Game Date Opponent Score Location Series Recap Division quarterfinals 1 October 15 Marikina W 103–71 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 1–0 Recap 2 October 22 Marikina W 82–71 Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center 2–0 Recap Division semifinals 1 November 7 Pampanga W 104–89 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 1–0 Recap 2 November 11 Pampanga W 89–84 Filoil EcoOil Centre 2–0 Recap Division finals 1 November 18 San Juan L 72–79 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 0–1 Recap 2 November 21 San Juan W 89–83 Filoil EcoOil Centre 1–1 Recap 3 November 25 San Juan W 84–68 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 2–1 Recap National finals 1 December 2 Zamboanga W 81–75 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 1–0 Recap 2 December 5 Zamboanga W 75–74 Nueva Ecija Coliseum 2–0 Recap 3 December 9 Zamboanga L 65–75 Mayor Vitaliano D. Agan Coliseum 2–1 Recap 4 December 12 Zamboanga W 69–56 Mayor Vitaliano D. Agan Coliseum 3–1 Recap Source: Schedule
References