MANILA – Three former basketball stars who made a name for themselves in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) will make their way back to the club basketball scene, this time leading their respective teams in the inaugural staging of the Metro League Open Division.
John Ferriols, MBA's first Most Valuable Player award winner in 1998, will spearhead Taguig, while Ariel Capus and Arnold Gamboa will lead the way for Pateros and Valenzuela, respectively.
Four other Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players will headline the tournament as well -- Manila's Joseph Yeo and Marikina's MC Caceres and Philip Butel, who is also part of the city's squad in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL).
A total of 10 teams will compete in the Metro League Open Division, simply dubbed as the M-League, with San Juan, Caloocan, Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Quezon City also joining.
Caloocan, Manila, Marikina, Quezon City, and Valenzuela make up the Northern Division, while Las Piñas, Parañaque, Pateros, San Juan, and Taguig compose the Southern Division.
The M-League will begin at the Caloocan Sports Complex on Sunday. Caloocan, nicknamed the Supremos as the city's MPBL squad, is set to unveil its new moniker the night before, hosting Valenzuela, tagged as the Workhorses, at 1:30 p.m.
Parañaque takes on Pateros in the first game at 10 a.m., while Marikina and Manila slug it off at 3 p.m. (PNA)
