THE PBA All-Star Weekend formally got underway with Raymond Almazan of Meralco and Calvin Oftana of TNT sharing the limelight by winning the Three-Point Shootout at the University of La Salle gymnasium in Bacolod.

Almazan finished with 19 points in the finals of the first ever threepoint shootout champion (big men edition), beating Dave Marcelo, rookie Christian David, and Isaac Go.

PBA chairman Ricky Vargas, Commissioner Willie Marcial, and Vice Chairman Bobby Rosales awarded the P30,000 prize money to Almazan.

Oftana, on the other hand, made his presence felt with 25 points to win the crown over defending champion Paul Lee (20) and Chris Newsome (15), and become the third TNT player to win the three-point shootout after Jimmy Alapag and Renren Ritualo.

Among those who did not make the championship round were Ginebra’s Maverick Ahanmisi (18), Blackwater;s James Yap (17), Converge’s Alec Stockton (18), NLEX’ Robbie Herndon, NorthPort’s Arvin Tolentino (19), Phoenix’s Ken Tuffin (20), Rain or Shine’s Andrei Caracut (17), San Miguel’s Marcio Lassiter (17) and Terrafirma’s Javi Gomez-De Liano (19).

Also stamping his class was JM Calma of NorthPort who ruled the Obstacle Course Challenge.

Calma went flawless in negotiating the course in the final round to win the event and become the third winner of the skills challenge after Beau Belga in 2018 and 2019 and Dave Marcelo in 2022.

He clocked 26 seconds in the finale to bag the crown and the P30,000 that went with it.

Santi Santillan of Rain or Shine and James Laput of Magnolia also made the championship round but setted for runner-up honors with clockings of 29 and 39 seconds, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental High School became the latest beneficiary of the PBA’s generosity.

The 48-year-old pro league donated P500K to the oldest educational institution in the province when it visited the school on Friday as part of its All-Star festivities program.

The even is presented by Arena Plus.

Commissioner Willie Marcial along with members of both Team Japeth Aguilar and Team Mark Barroca handed out the customized giant check through the kindness of ArenaPlus and Nustar in cooperation with the Alagang PBA.

The donation was made unannounced to the surprise of the entire school, which gave the PBA delegation a warm reception upon its arrival.