Liga opens Conference 3 in Cebu

MANILA, Philippines - Liga Pilipinas, the one and only home-and-away basketball tournament in the country, raises the curtains for its Third Conference tomorrow with a twin bill in Cebu City.

Liga Pilipinas president Noli Eala yesterday said he expects tougher competition among the 10 competing teams which will vie for the crown in the Super Finals in November.

“I’m proud to say that despite the difficult times and the economic difficulties of some companies we’ve been able to maintain a 10-team roster,” said the former PBA commissioner.

To make the operations more viable for the competing teams, he said the league is introducing a new competition format based on how the FIBA runs its international tournaments.

The 10 teams (four from Luzon and three each from the Visayas and Mindanao) will figure in a single-round robin. The top two teams will be seeded to the Super Leg while six others will dispute the three other slots to the Super Leg.

Another single-round robin will take place with the top four teams moving on to the Super Semis (1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3), and eventually on to the Super Finals set sometime in November.

Eala bared the new format along with LP technical director Perry Martinez, operations chief Butch Antonio, marketing man Rico Meneses, business developments head Joey Bautista and Bernie Atienza of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Opening games will pit Laguna versus Quezon and GenSan versus Cebu. Games will be covered by Solar Sports and aired on the delayed basis over Viva Prime.

The other competing teams are Pampanga, Taguig, Mandaue, Bacolod, Zamboanga and defending champion Misamis Oriental which defeated Cebu in the finals of Conference Two.