Melton, Guevarra share Slam Dunk hardware

MANILA, Philippines -- San Mig Super Coffee's Justin Melton played his darkhorse tag to the hilt while Meralco's Rey Guevarra came out of nowhere to emerge as co-champions in the Slam Dunk competition of the 2014 PBA All Star Weekend Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Melton and Guevarra finished with perfect scores after their dunk off in the final round.

Guevarra, who was a slam dunk champion back in college, relied on his power while Melton combined it with grace that belied his tiny 5-9 frame.

They both hit perfect scores except for the secound round when they were given identical 39 points.

Melton started to rock the arena with a powerful left-handed slam skying high over two San Mig Coffee's ballboys. But before that it was Guevarra who nailed the first perfect score with a between-the-legs slam off the baseline.

Melton wowed the crowd anew by clutching the rim with his left hand then dunked with his right. Guevarra did another between-the-legs but this time, finishing it with a reverse slam.

The duo dethroned last year's champion Chris Ellis, who could only muster 37 and 33 in the first two rounds despite jumping over five-time slam dunk title holder Nino Canaleta and a right-to-left cradle slam.

Another highly-touted participant fell down as Ellis' teammate Japeth Aguilar struggled with several misses.

In the Obstacle Course challenge, Mark Barroca of San Mig Super Coffee won the title by finishing with an impressive 29.8 seconds in the finals. It was far better than JVee Casio's 54.9 seconds and dethroned four-time champion Jonas Villanueva's 36 seconds.

In the three-point shootout, Globalport gunner Mark Macapagal regained the crown he lost to Chris Tiu last year with an unbelievable marksmanship.

Macapagal shot the lights out with 24 points in the finals to overcome the Casio's 20 points and Chris Tiu's 22 points.

Earlier, Macapagal and Casio led in the elims with 23 points apiece while Tiu joined them in the finals with 22 points.