Mather’s Kevin Davis didn’t win the IHSA slam-dunk contest Thursday night, but he definitely has a future in the world of advertising.
Davis garnered the biggest reaction of the evening with a little routine he calls his “I’m thirsty” dunk. Davis set a soft-drink can on the back of the rim, made a one-handed dunk with his right hand, grabbed the can of pop with his left hand, gulped it down while holding onto the rim and then slammed the can on his way down.
“I wanted to come up with something a little more creative,” Davis said. “And I was thirsty, too.”
Four players remain in Class AA for the finals Saturday: Romeoville’s Randall Crutcher, Urbana’s Willie Franklin, La Salle-Peru’s Heath Terando and Morton’s Derek Grimm.
“I’m going to get funny now,” Crutcher said about the final round. “I’ll do my `X’ dunk. Can’t say what it is. That’s for you to find out.”
Franklin, who employs a little post-dunk dance in his act, may be the favorite with the hometown crowd on his side.
Joliet West guard Corey Shelby, winner of the first three-point contest last year, hit nine of his 15 shots but did not make the Class AA final round. Corey Duncan of Sterling, Tim Page of Geneva, Jeremy Jackson of Moline and Brian Yates of Herrin did make it.
The players were divided into four groups of 16 players. Each player had 30 seconds to shoot 15 balls from three racks. The top four qualifiers in each class will shoot it out Saturday afternoon. The Class A and AA champs will go at it Saturday night.
The pregame hoopla was free and filled about one-third of Assembly Hall. The eight teams playing Friday in the quarterfinals got an opportunity to grow accustomed to the arena, and many players stayed through the three-point and dunk contests.
Much of the attention was focused on the section of the stands where King’s players chose to relax. It wasn’t long before a steady group of autograph seekers found the Jaguars and kept them signing for more than 1 1/2 hours. Even seldom-used players were swarmed for their signatures.
Rockford Guilford coach Mike Miller, 26, had the best quote about King’s expected domination this weekend.
“Everybody’s making it out like it’s David vs. Goliath,” Miller said. “It’s really like Goliath vs. David’s little brother Mikey. And Mikey gets crushed.”
King’s quarterfinal opponent, two-time defending state champion Proviso East, had the loosest shoot-around session. Coach Bill Hitt simply told the players to go out and have fun. The Pirates decided to hold their own slam-dunk contest, and the hands-down winner was Ray Gay.
