General Santos City’s Holy Trinity College (HTC) rode out a thriller to reach the Visayas-Mindanao qualifier of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League recently.
The HTC Wildcats advanced to the next stage of the nationwide tournament after edging STI-Cagayan de Oro, 99-98, in the finals of the Mindanao regional games at Xavier Gym in Cagayan de Oro City.
DMMA College-Southern Philippines of Davao City also downed St. Joseph College of Zamboanga, 99-56, in the battle for third.
But it’s just the Wildcats who will be heading to Cebu for the regional qualifier where they will battle Visayas leg champion University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos and Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. semifinalists University of Visayas and University of San Jose-Recoletos for a slot in the Elite Eight.
UAAP finalists Far Eastern University and National University, the Cesafi top two of University of San Carlos and Southwestern University and the eventual NCAA finalists are already assured of slots in the Elite Eight.
The South Luzon-Bicol leg, with champion teams from Sorsogon, Quezon, Naga, Tabaco, Batangas, Cavite and Laguna, gets going from Nov. 3 to 4 at Robredo Coliseum in Naga City.
The North-Central Luzon regionals on Nov. 3 to 5 feature teams from Vigan, Baguio-Benguet, Pangasinan, La Union, Pampanga and Zambales. Jasmine W. Payo