Aguilar finally struts stuff vs best of the jammers

MANILA, Philippines - Japeth Aguilar, who once ruled a dunking contest in Western Kentucky beating former teammate and future NBA slam-dunk king Jeremy Evans, leads a strong cast of aerial artists challenging the title defense of Chris Ellis in one of the highlight skills events in the 2014 PBA All-Star Week tonight at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The skills challenges will be played starting at 5:30 p.m. ushering in the PBA Legends Game at 8 p.m.

Justin Melton, the 5-foot-8 San Mig Coffee rookie, will also be a participant in the dunk show, possibly doing his version of Spud Webb stuffs in what’s easily the much anticipated PBA slam-dunk contest in years.

Also entered in the event are Calvin Abueva, Arwind Santos, Rey Guevarra and Cliff Hodge.

“This should be the best competition with guys who are most able, and definitely Japeth is up there,” said Ellis. 

“It all defends on how the other guys come out. I definitely have a lot of things in my pocket. I’ll bring them out if I have too,” the defending champ added.

Finally joining the PBA dunking event, Aguilar is excited and at the same time wary.

“I’ve waited for this for quite some time. Laging may nangyayari kaya hindi ako nakakasali. Now that I’m in, unfortunately, I’m not in the best shape,” said Aguilar, twice a slum-dunk ruler in local varsity play before moving over to Western Kentucky.

“I’ve never practiced my stuffs for quite a while. I might be off-timing,” added Aguilar, pointing to his Ginebra teammate Ellis as the top favorite.

“Ensayado yan. And he’s really got something else. He’s got the flair. Another advantage is his size. It’s nice to see smaller player in dunk competition,” Aguilar said.

Meanwhile, reigning three-point king Chris Tiu sees a wide-open contest in his event.

“It’s hard to choose who’s the strongest bet. It really defends largely on who’s on tomorrow (tonight),” Tiu said.

“Of course, you need a certain style. Lamang yung set shooters,” added Tiu, mentioning Larry Fonacier and Marcio Lassiter.

Tiu won the three-point shootout as a rookie participant last year, ending the three-year reign of Mark Macapagal.

Macapagal will try to reclaim his crown. Others entered in the event are James Yap, Mac Baracael, Jvee Casio, Gary David, Ronjay Buenafe and Mark Cardona.