Lester Alvarez emerged the deadliest among a bunch of sharpshooters while David Carlos remained the best dunker in the Chooks-to-Go MPBL All-Star Extravaganza on Thursday at MOA Arena.
Powered by a perfect third rack, Alvarez of the Bulacan Kuyas tallied 24 points in the final shootout to become the league’s new 3-point king.
The former Adamson Falcon bested Nueva Ecija’s James Martinez, who settled for 20 points following a sizzling 25 in the first round, and Bicol’s Jherome Garcia (17 points). Garcia edged General Santos City’s Mikey Williams (14-12) in their three-rack tiebreaker for the third spot in the finals.
Alvarez took over the throne vacated by Bataan’s Garry David, who was unable to participate in the eliminations as he was reactivated late.
Standing at 5-foot-9, Carlos again mesmerized the crowd with his leaping prowess. Knowing he needed to better his winning act last year, Carlos rammed in a one-handed jam over four people, including MPBL founder/CEO Sen. Manny Pacquiao and his son, Jimuel, to garner a perfect 50 points.
Bacoor’s Nick Demusis finished second with 42 while Bicol’s Chris Lalata took third with 37 points after a reverse two-handed dunk.
The slam dunk judges were Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascariñas, Jimuel Pacquiao, MPBL Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes, Manok ng Bayan Kobe Paras, and Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas spokesperson Mark Zambrano.
Alvin Pasaol of Zamboanga Family’s Brand Sardines and Thirdy Ravena scored eight points each as Team Pacquiao trounced Team Paras, 21-15, in the 3×3 Celebrity tussle.
Meantime, Jeff Viernes emerged the best among the best as the South All-Stars bested their North counterparts, 126-122, in overtime.
The crack guard of Batangas City Athletics knocked in 7 points, including the game’s last four, as the Southerners withstood a fiery rally by the Northerners to replicate their 109-84 victory in last year’s edition.
Viernes finished with 28 points, all in the last 25 minutes, plus 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, and was adjudged MVP, worth P50,000, for the second straight year.
What started as a fun game, turned serious in the second half as both teams played with a lot of pride, partly motivated by the P500,000 dangled for the winner.
Held to a 112 tie after regulation, the Southerners clustered 10 points, with Gab Banal netting two triples, to pull away at 122-112, with 3 minutes and 17 seconds left and force North coach Randy Alcantara to call timeout.
The Northerners then countered with a similar 10-point outburst through Renato Ular, Aris Dionisio, Mike Juico and Jeric Teng, to knot the count anew, 122-122 with 41.2 seconds to go.
Just when the crowd, led by MPBL CEO Sen. Manny Pacquiao, thought the Southerners will give in to pressure, however, Viernes took over and drilled in four straight charities that sealed the outcome.
“I’m happy that the fans got a good game. In games like these, you want it to be thrilling. I enjoyed it, had fun and the entire bench also,” said South head coach Don Dulay, mentor of the Davao Occidental Tigers, who also steered South to victory last year.
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