With a basketball frenzy descending on Indianapolis, Hinkle Fieldhouse was at the center of it all on April 3, hosting the College Slam Dunk and 3-Point Championships.
The night began with a short “Team Shootout” event featuring three teams of two men and one woman racing to make a shot from each of the six designated spots as quickly as possible, ending with a halfcourt shot.
High Point’s Chase Johnston, a March Madness fan-favorite, got the crowd going early by hitting the deep shot for his team, giving fans a flashback to his logo triple against Wisconsin in the tournament.
However, while Johnston got the night started, Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer produced one of the loudest crowd reactions at Hinkle all season, nailing the halfcourt shot for his team with 20 seconds to spare. Loyer, Kansas’ Elle Evans and Portland State’s Jaylin Henderson were crowned “Team Shootout” champions.
Loyer kept his momentum rolling in the first round of the men’s three-point contest, pouring in 24 points, the highest-scoring round of the night. He was joined by Texas Tech’s Donavan Atwell, Samford’s Jadin Booth and DePaul’s CJ Gunn. Johnston was among the four shooters who were cut after the first round.
Despite sneaking into the semifinals with just 13 points by winning the tiebreaker over Johnston, Gunn elevated his game, putting up a round-high 22. Atwell matched his first-round performance of 20 to secure his spot in the final round against Gunn, while Loyer came up just short with 18.
Ultimately, it was the hometown kid, Gunn, bringing home the victory with a controversial buzzer beater to outscore Atwell 22-20 in the championship round.
After a short break, it was time for the women to put on a show, and they did just that in the first round. Evans and Marquette’s Lee Volker led the way with 19 apiece, followed by three shooters tied at 17. Natalie Pasco of Boise State was the unfortunate odd-woman out based on the tiebreaker.
The Elle Evans show continued in the following two rounds, with her back to back 22s unable to be touched by any of her competitors, allowing her to cruise to victory. The fun did not end there, though.
Next up: “The Battle of the Champions”, pitting Evans against Gunn to decide the ultimate winner of the night. Gunn went first and set the tone with a 23, the second-best score by any athlete to that point.
Evans was not intimidated. After a pedestrian start, she caught fire, hitting 13 of her last 15 shots to finish with 24 points and bring the crowd to its feet. Evans ended the night as the only multi-event champion, with the “Team Shootout” and 3-point championships both under her belt.
With the sharpshooting over, it was time for the high-flyers to take the stage and finish the night. After weeding out half the dunkers in the first round, the field was narrowed to William Kyle III of Syracuse, Bryson Dawkins of Youngstown State, Nico Ashley of Central Connecticut State and Shaqir O’Neal of Sacramento State.
Kyle and Dawkins both flexed creative variations of “Eastbay” dunks on their second attempts, but their first efforts fell short of the mark, sending them home in the semis.
O’Neal had the strongest semifinal round — which featured two dunks per participant. His first dunk scored a middling 39 from the judging panel, including Indy native and NBA All-Star Jeff Teague. O’Neal came on strong with his second slam, though, jumping over Kyle to power one home and ending with his elbow in the rim for a perfect 50.
Ashley was the other dunker to punch his ticket to the finale with two strong finishes that both featured assists from Johnston.
Both athletes wowed the crowd in the championship round, starting with Ashley hammering home a two-handed reverse dunk over two people, including Kyle. O’Neal promptly matched it, one-upping his earlier 50-point dunk by recreating over two players instead of one.
With both players earning 50s, the competition went to a “dunk-off”. When Ashley failed to finish any of his dunk attempts, O’Neal flushed home a reverse windmill to win it with a score of 39.
As the three-point and dunk festivities come to a close, the attention shifts from Hinkle to Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Final Four tips off on April 4.