REY Guevarra completed a hat-trick of Slam Dunk Contest titles after edging a tough challenger in Chris Newsome in the finals during the PBA All-Star Weekend on Friday night.
The two-time defending champion Guevarra jumped over a fan with an assist from Scottie Thompson, before jumping over 6-foot-8 slotman Raymond Almazan and Rain or Shine teammate Jericho Cruz in the second dunk to register a score of 97 in the finals, one point more than Newsome had.
The 6-foot-2 Guevarra thus joined KG Canaleta, the Slam Dunk contest legend who was among the judges, to win the event at least three times.
Guevarra’s title defense, however, was hardly a walk in the park as Newsome also brought his A-game with two impressive dunks in the final round: the first when he juggled three balls, leaving one for an alley-oop to himself, before finishing with a left-handed slam.
Newsome then caught an alley-oop off the backboard from Thompson before finishing with a 360-degree dunk that sent the crown in awe.
The atheltic rookie playmaker also had a creative dunk in the opening round where he changed into a Manny Pacquiao boxing costume complete with gloves before finishing off a feed from teammate Jared Dillinger.
Guevarra and Newsome advanced to the finals after beating out Frank Bonifacio and James Forrester in the first round.
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