St. Benilde's Justin Gutang needed just a completed dunk in beating Arellano U’s William de Leon and Lyceum of the Philippines U’s Enoch Valdez in the finals to emerge the slam dunk king of the Season 94 NCAA All-Star Game at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Gutang did a reverse two-handed dunk at first, tried to do another one but failed to complete it before settling for a left-handed jam that elicited a 41 from the five-member judges’ panel that included Alab coach Jimmy Alapag and NCAA Press Corps president Norman Riego.
Both Valdez and de Leon failed to even complete their dunks.
Gutang’s best came in the elimination when he stuffed in a pass by teammate Jimbo Pasturan that earned him 46 points.
“I wasn’t satisfied with my performance because I wasn’t able to practice that much but a win is a win,” said Gutang.
In the three-point shootout, San Beda’s AC Soberano outgunned Mapua’s Exeqiel Biteng in the finals to clinch the three-point shootout title, his second after reigning supreme three years ago.
San Beda took in alumnus Rome dela Rosa as a last-minute replacement to Jake Pascual and teamed up with Calvin Oftana and Anfernee Zachary Estacio to rule the Shooting Stars event.
Dela Rosa, who won four championships with the Lions and is currently with Magnolia in the PBA, was just in the venue to cheer for younger brother Ry dela Rosa of Jose Rizal, who was there to compete in the three-point shootout but was called upon when Pascual, a former San Beda teammate, was a no-show.
Needing to borrow San Besa star Javee Mocon’s shorts and a spare San Beda shirt, dela Rosa, Oftana and Estacio defeated Mapua’s Clint Escamis, Exi Biteng and Yong Garcia with Oftana hitting the half-court shot to clinch the crown.
They beat a field that also included Arellano U’s Jio Jalalon and Letran’s Rey Nambatac, who are also in the pros like dela Rosa.
“It’s nice to be back and representing the school that gave me a chance to play,” said dela Rosa, who last played for the Lions five seasons ago.
Earlier, Jose Rizal’s Mark Mallari topped the skills challenge.
