THE University of Baguio Cardinals will lead eight other protagonists in the area eliminations of the National Junior Basketball Championships under the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Three Cardinal teams will be hosting three teams from Ilocos Region, two from Cagayan Valley and another three from Central Luzon in the area championship this November 22-25 at the Cordillera Career Development College gymnasium.

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Baguio-Benguet Educational Athletic League men's basketball champion Cardinals, BBEAL women's basketball second runner-up Lady Cardinals and the UB Red Robins will represent the Cordillera region in the four day basketball tournament.

"Our main purpose is to make our aspiring players ripe and ready enough for bigger challenges ahead. This is our breeding ground to form a junior team which will represent the country in international competitions in the future," said SBP area coordinator Danny Soria.

Ilocos Region will be bannered by University of Luzon in the boys under 19 category, Divine Word Academy in the boys under 17 category and Mother Goose Special School System Inc. for the girls under 19 division.

University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao will represent the boys under 17 and under 19 for the Cagayan Valley Region.

Central Luzon, on the other hand, will be joined by Bulacan State University in the boys under 19 category, while Jesus is Lord Academy and Holy Angels University will compete in the 17 under boys and 19 and under girls category, respectively.

With the Philippine National Juniors and Youth teams as the main destination, the high school players aged 17 years and below and 19 and below are given the chance to showcase their talents in the national arena.

"Its main highlight is the development of our young basketball players headlong to our ultimate goal of molding them to become members of the RP Team someday," added Soria, who is also the athletic director of CCDC.

The top teams in the regional eliminations will march into the Area Championships where the top two finishers will earn tickets to the National Finals set December 7 to 13.