Norwood bumped off in FIBA dunk contest

MANILA, Philippines — Gabe Norwood’s bid for the FIBA Dunk of the Decade honors came to an end with a tough loss to Iran’s Arsalan Kazemi in the Asia-Oceania bracket finale.

After two straights wins in the previous rounds, Norwood’s electrifying dunk against Argentina’s Luis Scola during the 2014 FIBA World Cup found its match in Kazemi, who had a power slam in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The Iranian big man edged out the Gilas Pilipinas stalwart, 60 percent to 40 percent, for the Asia-Oceania title, and progressed to the full-bracket semifinals against Brazil’s Rafael Mineiro.

The Brazilian bested Mexico’s Juan Tuscano in a close battle in the FIBA America zone finale.

The other semifinal duel will pit Latvia’s Kristaps Porzingis and Angola’s Carlos Morais following their wins in the FIBA Europe and Africa brackets, respectively.

Porzingis overcame reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of Greece for the European championship while Morais nailed the African jewel over Senegal’s Maurice Ndour.

The semifinalists from each zone will battle it out in another four-day voting starting today with the survivors meeting in the overall championship for the first FIBA Dunk of the Decade crown.