CSCC E-League Season 9 set to kick off on Sunday

CEBU, Philippines - It's all systems go for the ninth edition of the annual CSCC E-League basketball tournament that will take off this Sunday at the Citty Sports Club-Cebu gym.

“As in the past stagings of this annual event, we're looking forward to a very exciting season,” said league organizer and CSCC sports manager Rey Fuentes in a press conference yesterday at the City Sports Club's Colon room. “It's going to be another highly competitive hardcourt battle among call center agents and BPO employees in Cebu.”

A total of 16 teams divided into four groups are seeing action in the five-month tilt co-presented by Enjoy Philippines (a VIP privilege card) and the Winners Circle of City Sports Club in partnership with MESA Restaurant, Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa and Ckty Career Guide.

Two-time defending champion Stream Ingenyouity leads the pack of strong title contenders. They are bunched in bracket B together with 1&1 Marauders, ePerformax Reds, and Executive Boutique Lycans.

The Aegis Vipers, Author Solutions Hardbacks (formerly the Xlibris Publishers), Calltek Trojans and Krocera Frontiers make up bracket A, while league newcomer Talleco Bandits are pooled in bracket C along with the comebacking Wipro Tigers, Sykes Pioneers and Teleperformance Lions.

Rounding up the solid crack of entries under bracket D are the reigning Southern Conference champion Telstra powered by Teletech Titans, Accenture Sharks, SSI Warriors and Lexmark Stallions.

Teams in the same bracket will play in a double round robin during the eliminations, while teams in the same conference will figure in a single round robin. The semifinals is a best-of-three affair as well as the conference finals. The North and South champions will then slug it for the overall championship also in a race-to-2 series.

Aside from the bragging rights, the grand champion will also receive a beautifully-designed trophy of high quality and international standard.

Tournament commissioner Al Solis, a former PBA star who rose to fame both for his excellent quarterbacking skills and prolific outside shooting,  said they will also be giving special awards to the outstanding individual achievers including a total of four MVPs (regular season for North and South, All-Star and Finals MVP).

Last year's regular season MVPs are Sherwin Emmanuele Resilla of Teletech and Aerl Genebraldo of Calltek. They are joined in the Mythical Five by Kenneth Abrantes fo Odusee, Ariel Ramonito Edera of Kyocera and Franco Cipriano of Lexmark.

It was a triple celebration for Abrantes as he also emerged as the scoring champion and Rookie of the Year. The league leaders in other departments last year were Frenche Bonn Petallo of Teleperformance (blocks), Giovanni Villahermosa of Lexmark (assists), Ibhar Je del Mar of Convergys (steals), and Jn Paul Linke of Cebu Global (rebounds). (FREEMAN)