Paras was a last minute replacement to Joe Gomez de Liano who was injured and was not able to participate in both the 1x1 Last Man Standing and the Slam Dunk events. Paras only learned that he will play a day before the event. But this did not stop him from impressing in the contest.
In the Slam Dunk event, he was given the free pass to the final round but went up against formidable opponents like Daniel Chatman of the National University and Soulemane Chabiyo of the University of Santo Tomas. Also a guest participant was David Carlos - a FIBA 3x3 veteran slam dunker.
The final round ended with a tie between Paras and Carlos. A dunk off then ensued and the first 2 dunks ended with tied scores again. In their last dunk, Paras edged out Carlos - getting a perfect 50 for a pumped up 2 handed jam over UST's Brent Paraiso and Ricci Riveros' brother Rasheed against Carlos' 48, to win the title for the Maroons.
In the 1x1 Last Man Standing Event, Paras first went up against Jason Strait of University of the East and won 9 - 8; then went head to head with Quinito Banzon of Ateneo de Manila University and won 10 - 7. In his last game in the group stage, he won via default since Adamson University's Ivan Maata got injured in the Slam Dunk qualifiers.
In the semi-finals, Paras went up against this season's hosts National University's Robert John MInerva. He won with a score of 11-9. Coming off the Slam Dunk event, Paras was visibly tired and out of playing condition when he faced De La Salle University's Jordan Bartlett. Bartlett won 11-8, with Paras settling to 2nd place.
In the other events, AJ Madrigal represented the Maroons in the 3 Point Shootout and Lorenzo Battad joined the Skills Challenge. Madrigal unfortunately did not advance to the final round. Battad on the other hand, advanced to the semi-final round but eventually fell short.
Image is from the ABS-CBN Sports Twitter page.
