USC shoots for title sweep in Milo Best today

THE UNIVERSITY of San Carlos (USC) aims for titles in both the Small Basketeers of the Philippines and Passerelle divisions as the Visayas Regional Finals of the 2013 Milo-backed BEST Tournament gets underway today at the Iloilo Sports Complex in Iloilo City.

The expectations are lofty for the two USC squads as the SBP team is aiming for its second straight regional crown while the Passerelle team is aiming to keep Cebu’s seven-year regional streak alive. The Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu and the University of the Visayas accounted for the previous titles.

In the SBP division, USC faces regional rivals Ateneo de Iloilo (AdI), University of St. La Salle (USLS) and Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion (CPC) of Roxas.

At last year’s championship game, USC overcame St. John’s Institute of Bacolod then bowed to La Salle Greenhills in the national finals. USC is familiar with AdI and CPC Roxas, having played with them in 2012.

The Passerelle division is composed of USC, AdI, USLS and St. John’s of Roxas. USC won the Cebu title after a long drought and seeks to maintain Cebu’s domination of the Visayas Under 15 age group. USC defeated AdI for the CYBL Vismin Goodwill Games championship last summer and is considered a pre-tournament favorite here.

Games will be played today and tomorrow following a single round-robin format for the classification phase. The top two teams of each division face off for the championship. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio