PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines – Rey Guevarra, barely back from a hamstring injury, put his aerial artistry on display again and perfectly executed his pet in-between-the-legs throw-down in the finale to retain the coveted slam dunk crown in the PBA All-Star Skills Challenge at the City Coliseum here last night.
Guevarra, the fifth year Meralco slasher, beat Japeth Aguilar in a dunk-off after repulsing the challenges of 2014 co-champ Justin Melton, JC Intal and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser in the eliminations, thus, becoming only the third back-to-back PBA slam dunk king after Vergel Meneses and KG Canaleta.
Earlier, two sophomore pro players in Terrence Romeo of Globalport and Jeric Fortuna of San Miguel Beer emerged the bewildered winners of the Three-Point Shootout and the Obstacle Challenge, respectively.
The three champs received P60,000 each from the PBA and the event host NickelAsia.
“I was so nervous because I’ve been back for just a week and I wasn’t able to practice coming from a hamstring injury. I’m a little heavy and I was surprised I was able to pull it off,” said Guevarra.
“Before my final dunk, I was really nervous and I just kept on praying,” said the Negrense player of his winning slam – a Kobe Bryant stuff – drawing a perfect 50 from the panel of judges composed of NickelAsia’s JB Baylon, Blackwater owner Dioceldo Sy, Barangay Ginebra official Alfrancis Chua, TV5’s Nicko Ramos and this Philippine STAR sportswriter.
Guevarra and Aguilar figured in a dunk-off after coming through with identical scores of 97 points in the first two rounds of the final. The two earlier topped the elims with Aguilar drawing 95 points and Guevarra pooling 93.
In the slam-off, the 6-foot-9 Ginebra center-forward took the floor first, going through the length of the court and taking off a step after the free-throw line for a throw-down that earned 46 points.
Guevarra topped Aguilar’s stuff by perfectly performing a sequence that he missed during the elims, running from the left flank, elevating then shifting the ball from his left hand to right – in between the legs – for a rim-rattler that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
The former Gilas Pilipinas pool player drew a perfect 50 and snared yet another crown in addition to slam dunk championships he won as a collegiate player at Letran.
Aguilar topped the elims earlier with a performance highlighted by a powerful two-hander after soaring past Kevin Alas.
Terrence Romeo drained 18 points in the elims and in the finals to beat all comers in the Three-Point Shootout, including former five-time winner Mark Macapagal and three other past champs in James Yap, Jimmy Alapag and Chris Tiu.
In the Obstacle Challenge, Jeric Fortuna triumphed in the skills course (doing layups, passes and a three-point shot) in 32.1 seconds in the finals.
Later in the night, Talk n Text teammates Kevin Alas and Matt Rosser combined for 67 points, leading the Rookies to a 150-131 win over the Sophomores in the grand return of the Blitz Game in the annual All-Star Week.
Rosser, a creative participant in the slam dunk contest, also put on a show in the Rookies-Sophomores duel, showcasing an array of dunks in a performance that rubbed off on all participants in the game that turned to a fun-filled, slam-dunk party at the finish.
Diminutive players like Jeric Fortuna performed dunks while being lifted in the air by the other players.
The scores:
Rookies 150 – Alas 35, Rosser 32, Pringle 22, Semerad A. 18, Banchero 13, Heruela 12, Pascual 11, Semerad D. 7.
Sophomores 131 – Romeo 48, Almazan 20, Garcia 14, Camson 12, Melton 10, Lastimosa 9, Fortuna 6, Revilla 2.
Quarterscores: 43-33, 76-65, 110-92, 150-131