BEST SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament

It’s going to be a wild and wooly national finals of the BEST SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament which is played yesterday and today at the Magis Eagles Area of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu campus. This was the assessment made by BEST Center founder Nic Jorge and validated after yesterday’s games. Jorge said that the level of competition this year was even, especially in the Passerelle division. Has the level of competition really balanced off among the country’s top teams? Is Manila still the haven for the best teams in the land?

 At yesterday’s games, we got a glimpse of what Jorge said. In the first game of the day, the University of the Visayas stunned defending champion Chiang Kai Shek College of Manila, 64-40, to serve notice of things to come. While everyone was already expecting Chiang Kai Shek to dominate the Passerelle cast of teams, UV had something else in mind. They stepped on the gas at the start of the buzzer and never looked back. On the other side, Chiang Kai Shek played as if they got up on the wrong side of the bed and never woke up. The win signaled a wide open race for the Passerelle division crown. And so how wide open is the competition? In their next game of the day, UV had serious difficulty in defeating Holy Angel University of Pampanga, 45-42. Only an end-game rally anchored on composure and experience gave UV its second straight win of the tournament and at least a tie for a seat in the championship game. For Chiang Kai Shek, their tournament isn’t over at all. They just need to win their next two games to make it back to the championship game for a second straight year. They were to face Holy Child School of Davao yesterday in a game that Holy Child knows they can win after seeing UV score an upset win. This makes the division interesting. We’re now looking at a championship game from among UV, Chiang Kai Shek and Holy Child School of Davao with probinsyanos hoping for championship from the south. Could this be the first championship for a non-Manila team since 2011?

 On the other hand, the SBP division doesn’t look like it’s going to be as close. Xavier School is a solid favorite to win the championship with Ateneo de Iloilo looming to be its opponent in the finals. Xavier and Ateneo de Iloilo showed how they stood out among the competition. Xavier cruised to a 71-43 win over Bukidnon Faith Christian School, while Ateneo de Iloilo spanked Berkeley School of Baguio, 58-40. Xavier scored its second straight win, a convincing one at 50-33 over Berkeley School, thus setting earning a seat in the championship game. Ateneo de Iloilo was favored to score its second straight win as well over Bukidnon Faith Christian School. Should Xavier and Ateneo de Iloilo go 2-0, their last game of the elimination round is cancelled and they meet for the championship already.

 But what is this SBP Passerelle thing all about? The national finals of the SBP Passerelle tournament is the year-ending tournament sponsored by Milo that saw provincial championships played in 12 different areas. The Luzon areas are Baguio, Pangasinan, Lucena and Pampanga. Mindanao is composed of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos and Zamboanga. The Visayas region is composed of Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod and Roxas. Metro Manila is considered as one region by itself. Leading the pack of regional champions are Metro Manila’s SBP Champion Xavier School of Manila and defending national Passerelle champion Chiang Kai Shek College also of Manila. Rounding up the other SBP division are Berkeley School of Baguio (Luzon), Bukidnon Faith Christian School Inc. (Mindanao) and Ateneo de Iloilo (Visayas). The different Passerelle champions are Holy Angel University (Luzon), Holy Child College of Davao (Mindanao) and Cebu’s University of the Visayas (Visayas).

 The tournament is now on its 29th edition and has produced many of today’s top players in both the professional and collegiate leagues. From Cebu alone, products of the SBP Passerelle tournament include national youth players Paul Desiderio, Henry Asilum, Dave Yu, Leonard Santillan, Arnie Padilla and Dawn Ochea. Revrev Diputado of UAAP champion team NU, is also a Passerelle product. Many of today’s players in the UAAP, NCAA and CESAFI also played in the SBP Passerelle tournament during their younger years. The most prominent faces today are BEST graduates and poster boys Kiefer Ravena, Thirdy Ravena, Jeron Teng and Chris Tiu.

 At the end of the day, this wild and wooly weekend is just another edition of preparing the grounds for the future of Philippine basketball. We’re seeing the future, today.

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Time-out: Happy birthday to Fr. Joel Liwanag, S.J.