Slam Dunk Day 1 results
Caesar Rodney Unified 27, Cape Henlopen Unified 19: In a Special Olympics Unified matchup, the Riders held off a hard-charging Vikings squad in a competitive game between two talented, hardworking teams. CR blitzed Cape 16-0 in the first half, but the Vikings made an inspired run down the stretch to close the gap. Junior forward William Barrow poured in 15 points and knocked down three three-pointers for Cape, which also got two points each from sophomore forward Elizabeth Shea and junior guard Sebastian Turman.
Caesar Rodney 64, Salesianum 63 (OT): Senior guard Zayquan Eaton hit a 12-foot floater at the overtime buzzer to lift Caesar Rodney to a wild win over previously unbeaten Salesianum. Eaton, who also converted a lay-in at the end of regulation to send the game to an extra frame, finished with 16 points and six rebounds for the Riders, while senior forward Shaft Clark led the way with 22 points and made 10 of 13 field goal tries. “I saw 10 seconds on the clock [in overtime], and I was like, ‘I’m taking this,’” Eaton said. The Sallies were buoyed by guard Maxamilian Ferrante, who collected 15 points and canned three shots from long range.
Bishop Loughlin (N.Y.) 78, Liberty (Nev.) 46: Senior forward Justin Champagnie erupted for 26 points on 12-for-13 shooting, as the Lions led from start to finish. Bishop Loughlin did whatever it wanted on the offensive end, shooting an absurd 66 percent from the floor and turning the ball over just three times. Liberty struggled with Loughlin’s pressure defense, turning the ball over 21 times, and the Lions pounced on those miscues for easy buckets. The Patriots got 15 points from junior wing Julian Strawther, a top 40 recruit nationally, but his effort wasn’t enough to stop the disciplined, physical Loughlin squad.
The Patrick School (N.J.) 59, Eleanor Roosevelt (Md.) 54 (OT): Senior guard Michael Ramos drained the game-winning three-pointer on a broken play with just over a minute left in overtime to help The Patrick School outlast Eleanor Roosevelt. Ramos finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and four three-pointers for the Celtics, who also got 19 points from senior guard Alejandro Vasquez. The Raiders were paced by William & Mary-bound wing Cameron Brown, who tallied 20 points. The Patrick School overcame 26 turnovers to claim victory in one of the most rough-and-tumble, back-and-forth games in recent Slam history.
Gonzaga College (D.C.) 73, Albany Academy (N.Y.) 65: Junior guard Chuck Harris scored 12 of his 24 points in the final six minutes to help the Eagles pull away from the Cadets late. Gonzaga also got 21 points – 10 of them in the fourth quarter – from junior forward Myles Stute. The game was remarkably well-played, with the teams combining to shoot 58 percent from the floor and 59 percent from three-point range. The Cadets were led by junior guard Andre Jackson, who fired in 24 points and hit four of his five three-point attempts. Senior guard August Mahoney, a Yale commit, added 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting from deep for Albany.
Vermont Academy (Vt.) 63, Bishop Walsh (Md.) 53: The Wildcats beat back a second-half rally from the Spartans thanks to 20 points from top 50 junior guard Symir Torrence and 19 from Harvard-bound senior forward Tommy O’Neil. Vermont Academy controlled the game throughout, getting open looks seemingly at will and shooting 62 percent from the floor. Bishop Walsh got 17 points from senior wing Yavuz Gultekin, a Virginia Tech signee, and 13 from senior guard Anthony Torelli. The Spartans fought valiantly to trim a 15-point third-quarter deficit to as little as seven points in the final period, but Torrence held them off with several timely scores.
Player of the Day: Justin Champagnie, Bishop Loughlin – The 6-foot-6 senior forward connected on his first 11 shots of the day and delivered a seemingly effortless 26 points in the Lions’ rout of Liberty (Nev.). Champagnie showed off his next-level athleticism by hammering home five dunks, some of them on takeoffs from outside the paint, and also buried a few mid-range jumpers. He rounded out his stat-line with four rebounds, three steals and a block in 24 minutes of play. Champagnie is rated the No. 106 prospect in the 2019 class by 247Sports and has received offers from Cincinnati, Seton Hall and Dayton, among others.
Dunk of the Day: Andre Jackson, Albany Academy – Jackson gave veteran Slam Dunk fans déjà vu in the third quarter of Albany’s matchup with Gonzaga College (D.C.). In a four-second span, he nearly hit his head on the rim while swatting away a shot, grabbed the long rebound, and raced downcourt for a one-handed reach-back slam from about 12 feet out. This dunk was vintage St. Vincent-St. Mary-era LeBron in every way, and the defense-to-offense sequence was one of the craziest seen at any Slam.
