Rookies Ellis and Tiu bag Slam Dunk titles

Rookies took the spotlight in the premier side events of the PBA All-Star Weekend last night, and both of them are named Chris.
Barangay Ginebra’s Chris Ellis electrified the crowd in ruling the Slam Dunk Competition and Rain or Shine’s Chris Tiu was the deadliest in the Three-Point Shootout as both forever carved their names in the history of the Annual Classic held at the Davao Del Sur Coliseum here.
Ellis, the fourth overall choice of the Gin Kings in this year’s Draft, pulled out a couple of perfect 50 dunks in the elimination round and then was handed the title on a silver platter in the finals when Ginebra teammate Elmer Espiritu muffed his final attempt.
Trailing by one after both had pedestrian dunks in the first round of the finals, Ellis needed to just convert on his second after Espiritu’s misfortune.
But the creative high-leaping Fil-American came up with something like what Vince Carter did in the NBA’s version of the event in 2000, when he took an alley-oop pass from Meralco’s Cliff Hodge before stuffing the ball in with his entire forearm.
The final score was 93-70 after Espiritu earned just 25 points for his final attempt, one, which could have given him a high score had he converted.
Espiritu, the former University of the East swingman, was supposed to take a pass from the lower level section from Mark Barroca of San Mig Coffee. They had four failed attempts before Espiritu missed a simple 360-degree try as time ran out.
“I can’t wait to do it all over again with Elmer,” Ellis told reporters. “By the way, this (win) is dedicated to Samboy Lim (the former great and now Ginebra team manager).
I watched his films on youtube today.” Ellis also became just the fifth rookie ever to win the event after Vergel Meneses in 1992, Joey Mente in 2001, Brandon Cablay in 2003 and Rain or Shine’s Gabe Norwood in 2009.
Before all of the gravity-defying moves of the Slam Dunk contest, Tiu lorded it over in the Three-Point Shootout with a score of 21 points to beat fellow finalists KG Canaleta of Air21 and JV Casio of Alaska, who shot 18 and 13, respectively.
Tiu made all but one of five money balls, draining all of his attempts in the second rank to win handily and become just the first rookie since Jimmy Alapag of Talk ‘N Text in 2003 to triumph in the event.
Those 21 Tiu points also made its place in the history books as they tied the all-time high winning score jointly held by James Yap of Purefoods/San Mig in 2009, William Antonio in 2006, and Allan Caidic in 1991.
The boyish-looking Tiu, who commanded shrieks from lady fans almost the entire night, was actually just the third neophyte in the league to win here with Jasper Ocampo, a Fil-American with Barangay Ginebra, emerged victorious in 1998.
And lost in the din of the duo’s sterling triumphs was the win of the veteran Jonas Villanueva in the Obstacle Challenge.
Villanueva clocked 26.3 seconds and dusted off the challenge of Ellis, who timed 28.1 and Pamboy Raymundo of Talk ‘N Text, who did a 30.3.
Villanueva’s time was also the second fastest in league history after the 25.5 of Willie Miller in 2008.