Wide open race seen in PSSBC ‘Battle of Champs’

Top teams from the UAAP, NCAA and FCAAF are out to prove their worth as the best in their own leagues when the Philippine Secondary Schools Basketball Championship (PSSBC) MEC Network Cup begins on Dec. 10 at the SGS gym in Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.

National University, Mapua and Chiang Kai Shek, champions of their respective teams, lead the cast of teams that will compete in the fifth staging of the tournament composed of some of the country’s top high school cage teams.

Other participating teams in the event dubbed as “Battle of Champions” are San Beda, Arellano University, La Salle Zobel, Adamson, Far Eastern University, Manila Patriotic School, La Salle Greenhills, Hope Christian High School and St. Stephen High School.

The opening ceremonies will start on the second day of competitions at the Chiang Kai Shek campus in Manila. The top two teams in each of the four groups advance to the quarterfinals on Dec. 15.

The semis and finals of the tournament which has MEC Network of Leoncio Chua as title sponsor are slated on Dec. 17 and 18 at the SGS gym.

Chiang Kai Shek, which ruled the FCAAF months earlier, is eyeing a second straight crown in the tourney which is also sponsored by Dickies Underwear, Poly Gloss Automotive Polyurethane System, Ironcon Builders, Hapee Toothpaste, Blackwater, Freego and Ché Lu Bar & Grill.

Other backers are Davies Paints, World Balance, Philippine Airlines, Choi Garden, Molten, and Hanabishi.

NU is eyeing another crack at the title following its successful title romp in the UAAP last February, so does Mapua which ended a 16-year title drought in the NCAA by ending the seven-year reign of San Beda.

San Beda is aching to use the tournament as inspiration to rebound from its defeat to Mapua in the NCAA, while La Salle Zobel, Adamson and FEU look to use this tourney to boost their UAAP campaigns.