Bulawan soars to NCAA Slam Dunk title

Dennis Acosta

By Ivan Saldajeno

SAN JUAN, MM--Prior to the NCAA slam dunk competition, Jebb Bulawan suffered a thigh injury during Lyceum's practice.

In his penultimate dunk, Bulawan badly fell after jumping over Joseph Gabayni, hurting his elbow.

He bucked off the pain and flew his way to the dunk title.

Bulawan went on a tear in the final round to edge CSB Team B player Yahnkee Haruna for the dunk championship at the FilOil Flying V Arena during the NCAA All-Star event on Friday.

Placing second to Haruna in the preliminaries, Bulawan made a near-perfect championship round even as Haruna failed in his final attempt to capture the plum.

Bulawan first went for a hurdle dunk against a sitting Gabayni, who brought his smartphone to capture the dunk. The 6-4 forward slipped while landing, injuring his left elbow, but he raised his arms after making the dunk that earned him 29 points from judges Bai Cristobal, Mikee Reyes, and Migs Bustos.

Haruna countered by slamming over the full 6-6 frame of J.R. Ongteco. The judges also gave him a 29.

Bulawan brought Shaq Alanes to the fray and dunked over both Alanes and Gabayni. Bulawan's final dunk earned him the full 30 points.

Haruna attempted a windmill off a dish from Travis Jonson, who actually assisted Haruna in most of his slams, but he missed all of his three dunk tries, handing Bulawan the slam dunk title.

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