Last Saturday afternoon, at the office of Congressman Red Durano in Danao City, the different commissioners of the Cebu 5th District Sports Commission finalized details on the third staging of the inter-town basketball tournament, to open next Saturday, October 11.
The commissioners represented the local government units of Borbon, Carmen, Catmon, Compostela, Danao City, Liloan and Sogod in the mainland and the municipalities of Pilar, Poro, San Francisco and Tudela of the Camotes Islands.
Innovations on the tournament rules were made upon the request of the less competitive teams. The top four teams in the previous tournament can now have two collegiate or commercial players, active or inactive, in their lineups, provided they comply with the residency requirements. This will be a very big plus on the Danao City quintet as they have quite a few big names in the local basketball circuit who have made the city as their residence.
The rest of the teams may also have the above-stated privelege with an added option of getting two imports, regardless of playing status or residency. They cannot, however, field these imports at the same time. If I were to get imports, I will go for broke and hire Ateneo’s Rabeh Al-Hussaini and LaSalle’s Rico Maierhofer, with San Beda’s Sam Ekwe as option. We can deal with the COA later, hehe.
Teams in the mainland will play a single round-robin series where the top three will advance to the semis. The four teams in the islands will also have the same format, with the top team joining the mainlanders. The semis will also be a single round-robin series. Number three and four will play one game for third place, top two teams on a winner-take-all championship match.
The tournament promises to be exciting with the added modifications. Three games are scheduled on opening day with the four municipalities of the Camotes Islands squaring off in the first and second game. The main game will feature defending champion Liloan, still under the defense-oriented Edsel Vallena againts first runner-up Sogod, who will surely find ways to get even with the guys from the land of rosquillos and masi.
This is also the time to get reacquainted with the different officials handling their town’s athletic concerns, especially the big, loud and proud Roy Melgo of Borbon. Magsugod nasad ta..! I hope this is not asking too much of Cong. Red’s budget but maybe in the near future we can have other tournaments not limited to basketball for the 18 years-old and below? There is always the possibility of discovering and developing talents within the young through athletic endeavors. In our own little way, me and Konsehal Roy can assist in football. We cannot develop tiguwangs, instead they develop pi-angs. Gahi na ang mga kaunuran, Cong. ;-)
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The League of Municipalities of the Philippines Cebu Chapter Junior Basketball Tournament is on its final stage. Teams from San Fernando and Liloan are slugging it out for the crown. Liloan travelled to San Fernando the other weekend and got walloped by the home team. Last Saturday was Liloan’s turn to get back at their tormentors as it hosted San Fernando for the second game of the best-of-three series. It was a run-and-gun battle all the way for both teams but under the guidance of former pro Teroy Albarillo and assisted by Randy Antonio, Liloan prevailed.
The final match will be this Saturday at, of all places, Dumanjug. I see a convoy of vehicles from Liloan for this game as they plan not to be outdone as far as crowd support is concerned. It was nice to see more than a hundred people from San Fernando travelling all the way to Liloan cheering for their team. God-willing and circumstances permitting, this deadline beater will find his way in Dumanjug this coming weekend.
May the best team win.! And yes, I’m biased, may the best team be Liloan.
E-mail me at bobbytoohotty@lycos.com