GUEVARRA BACK-TO-BACK ALL-STAR SLAM DUNK CHAMP
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY. – Third time’s a charm for Rey Guevarra.
The Meralco forward scored a perfect 50 in his last jam in the Finals to beat Barangay Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar and crown himself the 2015 PBA Slam Dunk champion before a very appreciative crowd at the Puerto Princesa City Coliseum.
The 28-year-old actually just needed 47 points to win the crown during the dunk-off with Aguilar after the latter netted 46 in a dunk he slammed home after taking off just past the free throw line.
But the five judges could not resist giving him a 10 each as he treaded the baseline from the left corner, took off and twirled the ball between his legs before slamming the reverse jam home.
Even Aguilar, at 6-9 taller than Guevarra by six inches, even had to shake his head at that.
“Kinakabahan nga ako dahil lahat ng mga dunks na ginawa ko, first time ko pa lang na-try,” said Guevarra, who received P30,000 as prize, an amount matched by event sponsor Nickel Asia.
Guevarra, runner-up to Kelly Williams in 2011 and co-champion with Justin Melton last year, could now sit on the throne by his lonesome while becoming only the third back-to-back winner of the annual event after Vergel Meneses and Nino “KG” Canaleta.
Not bad at all for a man who has not yet seen action in the Commissioner’s Cup due to a left hamstring injury and used only one week to prepare for the event.
“Sobrang thankful talaga ako,” said Guevarra, who definitely won the hearts of the crowd by baring an undershirt that bears the words “I Love Palawan” after his second dunk.
Guevarra and Aguilar were not just the ones who took the crowd’s breath as the other high-flyers in Melton, JC Intal and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser also executed some breath-taking dunks..
Melton, however, relinquished his share of the crown right in the two-round eliminations when he ran out of time after missing all his first two attempts.
The Purefoods guard then turned the event clown when he was blindfolded by teammate Joe Devance and executed a straight-up slam dunk that was way short – to the delight of the crowd.
With the others likewise falling short, Guevarra and Aguilar advanced to the two-dunk final round and the slam-off was necessitated after they tied at 97 after two dunks. (NC)
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