Architects, engineers start hoop wars on March 17

The organizers and team captains of the Architects + Engineers Basketball Club Corporate Cup pose for a group photo during its presser at Trillis along A.S Fortuna Street on Thursday. | Glendale Rosal

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Sixth Architects + Engineers Basketball Club Corporate Cup promises exciting hardcourt action starting tomorrow, March 17, 2023, at the Aznar Coliseum in the Southwestern University-Phinma (SWU-Phinma) in Cebu City. 

The annual hoop wars featuring Cebu’s architects and engineers have grown bigger, this time, fielding in 12 teams, with two more squads added than its previous edition. 

“Expect a very competitive basketball tournament. Mas lig-on karon ang mga teams kay naa ta mga bag-ong licensed engineers ug architects nga tag six-footers,” said the head organizer, Josephril Partosa during a presser at Trillis along A.S Fortuna Street on Thursday. 

(Expect a very competitive basketball tournament. The teams now are stronger because we have new licensed engineers and architects, who are six footers.)

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“Daghan na pud teams karon nga mas competitive compared sa atong previous editions. Gipangandaman jud ni nila nga liga,”Partosa said.

(There are also many teams now that are more competitive as compared to the previous editions. They have really prepared for the league.)

“It’s supposed to be our eighth edition, pero wala nato natiwas because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nakaduwa pa ta ato ug three games before naglockdown,” he said.

(It’s supposed to be our eighth dition, but we were not able to finish that because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were able to hold three games before the lockdown.)

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“So karon, lipay kaayo mi kay nakabalik na jud ta since last year. Besides sa competition, ato pud ni gipahigayon as a way to foster camaraderie among engineers and architects ug sa atong mga sponsors. It’s also one way for us to relieve stress through basketball,” he said.

(So now, we are happy because we have returned since last year. Beside the competition, we also foster camaraderie among engineers and architects and our sponsors. It’s also one way for us to relieve stress through basketball.)

The 12 competing teams are Sinclair/United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) Cebu, Island Paints-UAP-Datu Lapu-Lapu, Build-It- UAP-Sugbu, Trillis-UAP-Metro Rajah Jumabon-Leon Kilat, EGS-Civil Engineering 1, Avantrac-Civil Engineering 2, Dwight Steel-Civil Engineering 3, Golden Hammer Construction & Supply-Civil Engineering 4, Paragsa-Mechanical Engineering-A, CS4-Mechanical Engineering-B, Fenestram-Computer Engineering, and RELLM-Electrical Engineering. 

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Oliver Tan, the tournament’s co-organizer and vice president, said that they would follow a Barangayan system format with single round robin competition. The games will be played every Fridays and Saturdays until June. 

The playoffs format of the tournament will have the top four teams competing in the semifinals in a do-or-die match, and it will be the same in the finals. 

“Ato gyud ni gituyo nga single round robin para magtagbaw kada teams. Makaduwa jud sila og 11 ka games until June,” said Tan.

(We made this a single round robin so that each team can really enjoy playing. They can play 11 games until June.)

“Amo pud gituyo nga knockout games atong playoffs to discourage teams nga moforfeit sa ilang mga scheduled nga duwa. Maningkamot jud sila nga makab-ot nila ang top four para makasulod sila sa playoffs,” said Tan. 

(We also made it this way so that our playoffs will be knockout games in order to discourage teams that will forfeit their scheduled games. They will really work to reach the top four so that they can enter the playoffs.)

The opening ceremony will start at 6:00 PM tomorrow which will have a muse pageant followed by the regular games. 

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