Noel awes crowd with super dunk

MANILA, Philippines - Rain or Shine star rookie Gabe Norwood emerged the local champion and Ginebra import David Noel the ultimate winner in what’s easily the most creative slam dunk contest in the PBA All-Star history.

Purefoods’ James Yap and Ginebra’s Paul Artadi topped the three-point shootout and the obstacle course, respectively, as they also seized the spotlight in the skills competitions at the close of the 2009 Motolite PBA All-Star Festivities at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Noel, however, stole the thunder on his invasion of the slam dunk contest.

Winner of the 2006 US NCAA slam dunk contest, Noel brought his act to the PBA, beating Gabe Freeman and Anthony Johnson for the crown in the import category before topping Norwood, the local champ, in their dunk-off for the ultimate championship.

In what’s considered by many as the best dunk contest in league history, former three-time champion KG Canaleta and Talk n Text dynamo Jared Dillinger also showed their stuff.

Defending champion Kelly Williams was a no-show as he’s down with an illness.

Noel scored two perfect 50s in the dunk-off with Norwood, winning the contest by six. The University of North Carolina product first executed a thunderous windmill after bouncing the ball off the board. He brought the house down as he did a cartwheel then a back somersault before fashioning out a 360-degree two-handed jam.

Egged on by the crowd for an encore after being awarded the championship, Noel obliged, sprinting from the other end of the court before taking off just after the foul line for another powerful slam sending almost everybody in the venue up on their feet.

Norwood won the heart of the crowd even in defeat.

With Noel already a sure winner, Norwood pulled off a comic stunt, doing a mini-cartwheel, slamming home then, on bended knees, begged the panel of judges for a good score.

The panel – composed of this writer representing the PBA Press Corps, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney, Australian Ambassador Rod Smith, Harlem Globetrotter Buckets Blakes and The STAR columnist Joaquin Henson – gave him 48 points.

Dillinger had his own stunt earlier, amusing the crowd by taking off his playing jersey and revealing himself in boxing shorts with a picture of Manny Pacquiao emblazoned on it. He then wore boxing gloves and shadow-boxed on the floor ala Pacquiao.

Alas, he miss-executed his stuff for an automatic 25.

Canaleta, slam dunk champion for three straight years before opting to skip the event last year, finished a fighting runner-up to Norwood in the local competition.

The flamboyant dunker performed a windmill that drew 46 then an acrobatic reverse that netted 43 for a total of 89, losing by two to Norwood.

Yap scored 17 points in the elimination and 21 in the final to win the three-point contest.

Dondon Hontiveros and Gary David were the two others who advanced to the finale. They settled for runner-up honors with Hontiveros making only 15 and David eight in the finale.

David clocked 36.7 seconds to win the obstacle course, beating LA Tenorio and Egay Billones.