By Rawle Toney
It was the first time in the tournament’s six year history that one person won both the junior and senior slam dunk contest at the annual Supligen All-Star Weekend.
- Stephon Gillis
As of last weekend, 19-year-old Tyron Hamid of Ravens Basketball Club is the only person to hold that distinction after his startling performances when the event was held last Saturday and Sunday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
It began Saturday night when Hamid dethroned 2007 champion Steven “Lighter” Lewis of Trinidad and Tobago in the senior slam dunk contest.
Only three players were up for the challenge and one, Hamid, was the only Guyanese.
The other two competitors were Trinidadians Lewis and Miguel “High Flying Trini” Williams.
Hamid is not generally known to be an explosive dunker.
But, urged on by his friends with chants of “give it to them Tyrone,” he produced wondrous feats of dunking.
His first dunk which was a “wind mill” after an alley hoop toss, earned a perfect score by the judges.
- Orin Rose
By this time the large crowd in attendance remained on its feet in amazement.
His competitors, Lewis and Williams, seemed confused and Williams’ dunk hardly seemed threatening.
The 2007 champion, Lewis appeared on the court to loud applause but his dunk wasn’t as pleasing as Hamid’s first dunk.
Hamid continued from where he left off with thunderous dunks done with flair and power and comfortably won the senior event.
He returned Sunday night in the junior dunk out but this time with a bit more competition since five dunkers took part.
None-the-less, Hamid seemed too confident to lose.
Last year champion Jaime Mayers failed to impress and it was the young Marlon Anderson from the Courts Pacesetters Basketball Club who rose up to challenge Hamid.
Anderson who completed a “double pump” reverse two handed dunk to collect a perfect score from the judges.
Things seemed to be getting interesting but Hamid pulled some tricks out of his bag and released several dunks to win.
Meanwhile, in the three-point shoot out, Courts Pacesetters and national small forward Stephon Gillis overcame a field of 20 strong shooters to retain his title while junior national point guard Orin Rose of Linden’s Kashif and Shanghai Kings added the 2008 junior shoot out title to the one he won in 2006.
Rose easily out gunned 18 other shooters to win the event.
The Supligen All-star weekend is the only event to date in Guyana that brings together some of the country’s best players for the basketball show piece.
The event was held by the Beepat Scorpions and the Wildfire Productions Group.
