SBC sees tough PSSBC outing

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the absence of top teams Ateneo and National U, San Beda remains wary of the opposition when it opens defense of the Philippine Secondary Schools Basketball Championship (PSSBC) Jumbo Plastic Linoleum Cup crown beginning Saturday.

“I haven’t seen the rosters of the other teams so I can’t tell our chances,” said SBC coach JB Sison, who steered the team to a record seventh straight NCAA championship and 22nd overall recently.

But Sison sees a spirited chase for the crown and the bragging rights as the country’s premier high school team even without Ateneo and NU, is aware that the rest of the competing field have toughened up for the event.

“We’ll try to defend our crown but it will be tough,” he added.

League commissioner Ato Badolato agrees that it will be anybody’s ballgame, citing the league’s competitive balance.

“We have three different champions in our first three years, so this league is really something,” said Badolato, the man behind San Beda’s highly successful high school basketball program.