Coke PBA tourney unwraps

CEBU, Philippines - The Coca-Cola PBA Youngstars Basketball Tournament will come off the wraps today at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Mango Avenue Campus gym.

Eight teams will slug it out for the right to represent Cebu at the regional and possibly national finals of this nationwide summer tilt, according to Cebu tournament chairman and Cebu City Councilor Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba.

 Leading the pack of contenders are Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu and the University of the Visayas, which have won regional and national championships at the Under-16 age group over the past year.

 Giving them a challenge will be the University of San Carlos (USC) North, USC South and Cebu Eastern College, the other consistent performers in the Passerelle division.

Thumbs-Up, a camp-based team, is considered as tournament darkhorse, while the University of Southern Philippines Foundation and SHS-AdC-B complete the cast.

 The tournament, which is on its first year of a three-year agreement between Coca-Cola and the PBA, features teams with players between the ages of 13 to 16 years old. Each team is composed of three players each of the four age groups (13, 14, 15, and 16).

The Cebu champion represents the province in the Visayas regional finals which will be held May 19-20 in Bacolod. The Visayas champion moves on to the national finals on May 27-June 1 in Manila.

 The other major areas being contested are Northern Luzon which is composed of Pampanga, Pangasinan and Isabela. Southern Luzon will also draw a champion from Laguna, Cavite or Batangas. Mindanao is composed of Davao, Cagayan de Oro and General Santos. The Visayas is composed of Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo. The four different regional champions will then join the top two teams from the Metro Manila leg in the national finals. (PR) (THE FREEMAN)