A player from the Biliran National Agricultural High School’s grabs a rebound during their game versus Cabucgayan National School of Arts and Trades (CNSAT) in the OCCCI D-League Interschool Basketball Tournament. | Contributed Photo.
CEBU CITY, Philippines— All roads lead to the Ormoc City Superdome as the much-awaited “Battle of the Best” of the OCCCI D-League Interschool Basketball Tournament kicks off this March 26, 2023.
This will serve as the culmination of the four legs that happened throughout the entire Leyte Island since February. It features the champion teams in the high school, elementary, and college divisions.
Ormoc served as the venue of the league’s pre-season tournament last February.
“Thankful sila kaayo ug excited sila naay nag ing-ani sa Leyte. Wala pa man ni nahitabo sauna. Grabe ilang pasalamat, labi na sa Biliran nga mga schools kay mura ug uhaw jud sila moduwa ug basketball. Unya nag look forward na sila para next season,” OCCCI Chief Operations Officer Mizpah Aira Taala told CDN Digital.
“Best of the best na gyud ni siya nga leg. Pinaka lig-on sa OCCCI D-League, dinhi nato masuta kung unsa nga school pinaka kusgan nga region. Anhi nato makita ang competition sa mga waray ug mga bisaya, ang Samar kusog ang teams sa Ormoc, ug sa Biliran, mag depensaay sila sa ilahang trono,” she added.
The competing teams in the high school division include Calubian National High School, Pedro E. Candido Memorial National High School, Dulag National High School, Ormoc City Senior High School, Baybay City Senior High School, and the Pedro E. Candido Memorial National High School.
Meanwhile, some of the notable teams that would compete in the college division are Western Leyte College (WLC) Mustangs and the Saint Joseph College of Maasin.
Also, the San Juan Elementary School and Baybay 1 Central School are the top bets in the elementary division.
But these are just some of the champion schools in the four legs in Western Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran Province, and Central Leyte legs.
Taala said that OCCCI D-League’s maiden season is virtually successful even if the final leg, the “Battle of the Best” is yet to kick off on Sunday.
It’s mainly due to the strong support of the local government units that hosted the four legs. Plus, they were surprised by the tremendous enthusiasm of the schools in Leyte, that they even got to the point declining many of them as they’ve already exceeded their target number of teams for this maiden season.
“Nag sobra jud siya, pero nag limit mi kay naa ta giapas nga time table. Rest assured, makaapil na gyud tanan sa Season 2 kay ang mga LGUs nga among naduol, labi na sa Baybay, Leyte ni saad na nga pwede na makagamit ug upat ka venues,” said Taala.
One of the main goals of having this league is to showcase Leyte’s basketball talents, which is often shadowed by Cebu, which they didn’t fail to do so.
Taala was ecstatic to announce that they’ve already discovered talented players which they can promote to and even sign to OCCCI’s professional team, the OCCCI Sheermasters.
Aside from that, they are also planning to include in their next plans to send the champion teams of the “Battle of the Best” to play against the best teams in Region 7 or Central Visayas.
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