Baguio to host national basketball tournament for teenagers

Thursday, January 19, 2012

HIGH school students will meet in Baguio City next week for the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas' (SBP) Under-16 National Championship.

A total of 10 teams are seeing action in the men's division, while five squads make up the women's side of the meet slated January 22-28 at the University of Baguio, Cordillera Career Development College, and Eastern College gym, respectively.

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And this early, the SBP said the University of Santo Tomas, Holy Cross of Davao, and host University of Baguio are among the favorites to win the title.

"This is part of SBP's grassroots development program, especially since our starts usually come from the youth side," SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said.

Following the under-16 tilt, the under-14 championship will be held in February using a 3-on-3 format, while the under-18 meet known as the inter-collegiate championship, will be done simultaneously with the Philippine National Games of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) this summer in Iloilo City.

Other teams seeing action in the men’s side are St. Claire, La Union College of Nursing and Arts and Sciences, St. Bridget School-Batangas, St. John Institute of Bacolod, University of Visayas, Sacred Heart of Jesus Montessori of Cagayan de Oro, Holy Child School of Davao, and Claret School of Zamboanga.

On the other hand, the women’s division is composed of St. Claire, St. Louie-Baguio, Sta. Isabel Naga City, Assumption Davao, and one team in Dagupan.

The 10 teams in the men’s side will be divided into two groups, with the top two in each division advancing in the crossover semis. The top two squads to emerge in the semis dispute the title in a winner-take-all match on January 28. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)