Maiden Northern Cebu leg of SM NBTC League unwraps today

The inaugural Northern Cebu leg of the 13th Chooksto-Go National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) League presented by SM gets underway today at the D.M. Reynes Gymnasium in Compostela, Cebu.

Before the hardcourt hostilities, a simple opening ceremony will take place starting off with the parade of athletes at 7 am.

Expected to grace the affair are Compostela Mayor Froilan Quino, SM NBTC Visayas Territory Head Rommel Rasmo, and NBTC North commissioner Ruben Nelmida Patotoy, Jr.

“I made an effort to bring the NBTC program to our locality because I want to give our young aspiring cagers in the North a chance to showcase their basketball prowess,” said Patotoy.

The sequence of action in the morning session that will commence at 8:30 a.m. pits the GreenRose Centre for Academe vs Santa Cruz Learning Center, Arcelo Memorial National High school (day class) vs Lataban NHS, and Arcelo NHS (night class) vs Carmen NHS.

The afternoon games that will kick off at 1 p.m. feature Liloan NHS vs Rosemont Hills Montessori College, Liloan NHS Extension-Don Bosco Campus vs Compostela NHS, Schildknecht School vs Saint Louisse Academy, Britech College vs Cabangahan NHS, and La Consolacion College-Liloan vs Formative Academic & Skills Development School.

The 16 contending teams are divided into four groups that will play a single round robin. The top two seeds in each group will proceed to the quarterfinals wherein they will be divided again into two groups of four.

The top two teams will advance to the crossover semifinals. The winners will then dispute the title in a winner-take-all affair on November 17.

The champion of the five-day tilt backed up by SM, Chooks-to-Go, Vivo, Smart, Darlington-Exped, SBP,Phoenix, Go for Gold, Molten, Gatorade, ESPN5, Cignal and Compostela LGU will earn the right to represent Northern Cebu in the SM NBTC League Regional Finals next year in Bohol. —