DeMatha Catholic High School's Victor Oladipo during the at the Spalding Hoophall Classic Skills Competition held at Blake Arena in Springfield, Massachusetts. Photo Courtesy: Geoffrey Bolte / www.atlanticexpressions.com
Click here for amazing Video Highlights of the Hoophall Classic Dunk Contest
By Chris Maza, Western Mass. Regional Correspondent
Simeon High School's Brandon Spearman during the at the Spalding Hoophall Classic Skills Competition held at Blake Arena in Springfield, Massachusetts. Photo Courtesy Geoffrey Bolte / www.atlanticexpressions.com
Mater Dei had a pretty good showing at the Hoophall Classic Skills Challenge Sunday, but it was Victor Oladipo's display that everyone will be talking about for a long time.
Olapido won the slam dunk contest in entertaining fashion in front of a packed house at Springfield College's Blake Arena and a judging panel that included NBA alums Dee Brown and Jerome "the Junkyard Dog" Williams, beating Simeon's Jasper Golding in the championship round.
"I love doing this stuff," said Oladipo. "It's a lot of fun. I like to entertain people and lots of people like to watch the dunks. That's something I'm good at, so I like being able to entertain people."
He got things started with an impressive windmill jam that a DeMatha Catholic teammate first put off the side of the backboard. After completing the dunk, he lifted the Skills Challenge shirt he was wearing to reveal an Indiana University basketball shirt, indicating his choice of college.
Before trying his second dunk, he grabbed the microphone and got the crowd involved, having them clap in unison as he twice attempted a one-handed jam with his free arm covering his eyes --- a definite tribute to judge Dee Brown, who won the 1991 NBA Slam Dunk Contest with the same dunk. After missing both attempts, he settled for a just plain nasty two handed reverse slam.
"I can't believe I missed that," Oladipo said of the no-look dunk attempt. "I do that dunk all the time at home. It's my Wal-Mart dunk."
Simeon High School's Steve Taylor during the at the Spalding Hoophall Classic Skills Competition held at Blake Arena in Springfield, Massachusetts. Photo Courtesy: Geoffrey Bolte / www.atlanticexpressions.com
Mater Dei's Gary Franklin won the three-point contest against two Massachusetts natives in Tantasqua's Jake Gubitose and Sabis' Andre King.
In the final round, King looked to keep the three-point crown in the birthplace of basketball, but fell one basket short, missing a money ball on the last shot that would have put him over the top. He finished with 12 points, while Gubitose and Franklin scored 13, leading to a shootout, which Franklin won, 15-11.
The team of Mater Dei's James Robinson and Simeon's Tywon Pinckney won the half-court hustle, which consisted of both players from each team first hitting a layup, then a shot from the free throw line and finally a three-pointer from the top of the key.
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