Metro Basketball Tournament opens door to youth ballers

MANILA, Philippines - Top teams from the inaugural juniors category last summer hope to redisplay their top form when the Metro Basketball Tournament seniors division gets under way on Sept. 10 at the Makati Coliseum.

Sixteen-and-under champion Marikina takes on third placer Manila at 12:30 p.m. while second-ranked Parañaque faces fourth placer Makati at 11 a.m. in the opening day hostilities of the league featuring rosters of 16- to 24-year-old cagers. 

Quezon City and San Juan, meanwhile, clash in the mainer at 2 p.m. The opening rites will be held at 10 a.m.

Tournament director Bonnie Tan said that the league hopes to open opportunities for the youth not just in the sport but also in their studies, citing how two players who suited up for the Makati Skyscrapers in the juniors division were picked by Mapua and Letran.

“It’s good that more basketball leagues are being put up to give more chances for the youth to be discovered and to develop their skills in the sport,” said Tan in a press launch at the Archie’s Bespoke Sports Grill + Bar in Quezon City yesterday.

“We have out-of-school youth in the lineups and we hope this will be one of the avenues for them not just to play in the big leagues but also to go back to their studies,” he added.

Fourteen squads are set to see action in the tourney where they will be divided into the North and South divisions with the division champions slugging it out for the overall seniors plum.

Caloocan, Manila, Marikina, Navotas, Quezon City, San Juan and Valenzuela make up the North squads while the South side will be bannered by Las Piñas, Mandaluyong, Makati, Parañaque, Pateros, Taguig and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

In each division, the squads will figure in a single-round classification phase where the top-seeded team will gain an outright entry into the knockout semifinals with a twice-to-beat advantage.

Other venues for the games are the San Andres Sports Complex in Manila, the Hagonoy Sports Complex in Taguig and the Parañaque Sports Complex in Sucat.