Chavers crowned dunk champ

By Sean Eamon - 03/30/2008

ANACONDA — If you spotted any high-flying objects over The Smelter City Saturday night, it was probably Wayne Estes Dunk Contest champion Antonio Chavers on his descent from his title-winning slam.

ANACONDA — If you spotted any high-flying objects over The Smelter City Saturday night, it was probably Wayne Estes Dunk Contest champion Antonio Chavers on his descent from his title-winning slam.

In a head-to-head battle with Wayne Estes Tournament regular Myron Simms, Chavers took a giant leap over a sitting Jared Smithson, grabbed a Smithson oop and flushed the slam dunk title home. The title is Chavers’ second straight.

The dunk was the second time Chavers cleared Smithson during the contest and the original idea for the rimshaker came from Anaconda’s own Smithson.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Chavers said. “He was like ‘I’ll just sit in the chair.’”

Chavers had trouble handling the ball on his first attempt, but brought the house down in his second effort. Simms tried a Jordanesque cradle-rocking dunk, but missed.

Chavers, Simms and Smithson each took the floor as complete strangers Saturday night, but exited the contest as high-flying friends.

“I didn’t even know him until tonight,” Smithson said. “He just flew over the top of me.”

Smithson had the third-best score in the semifinal round of dunks, but just missed making the championship round cut. The Montana Western guard was elated to be competing with former Utah State standout Simms and former Washington State guard Chavers.

“Man they can fly,” Smithson said. “Those guys have mad hops.”

Simms was originally cast as a judge for the event, but after only a handful of players signed up, he decided to dust off his kickers.

“I just met Myron like five minutes before,” Chavers said. “He told me he was judging.”

Simms had one of the outstanding moments of the contest banking a ball off of the baseline wall of the Memorial Gym for an alley-oop. After the contest, he reflected on where Chavers stands among dunkers he’s seen in the contest.

“He might be the best guy I’ve seen in quite awhile,” Simms said.

Chavers jumped over a standing Smithson in the second round and followed that with two less impressive tries in the championship round. The two decided to go one more round for all the marbles to the delight of the huge crowd at the Snake Pit.

Simms returned to the tournament after

taking a year off. He underwent knee surgery, but it didn’t really show at all during the contest.

“That old man is 35 years old,” Chavers said laughing. “He’s a real cool dude. I’ll know him forever now.”

Simms, who turns 35 next month, said that he just wanted to give the crowd a good show after some people were worried that the dunk contest wouldn’t live up to its potential.

“I’ll do anything for these guys,” Simms said. “It was good to get back in it.”

Smithson had an impressive spinning dunk and a long knee-bending slam earlier in the contest. He had a chance for the finals until Simms tossed his double-deflecting oop off the wall and the floor.

“I thought I had it and Myron did that off the wall,” Smithson said.

Other competitors in the contest included Brett Weisner, Cameron Barber, Adrian Zamora and Derek Brown.

Weisner, Zamora and Brown actually did better than the top three finishing dunkers in the first round, but couldn’t top the shorter leapers in the second round.

Judges for the contest were Maury Cook, Ali Hurley, Korey Krumm, Jeff DaHood and Craig Baumgartner.

After the event, DaHood said it was nice to see creative variations in the contest.

“Everybody’s trying to mix up different things and do different variations,” he said. “It’s nice to see that creativity.”

Men’s Open

Semifinals

Team Max 71, Elite Eight 49

Team Max dropped the Elite Eight with a huge second half effort.

The team was propelled into the Men’s Open Championship game by a 19-point performance by Booker Nabors. Matt Bouscher chipped in 15 points.

The group of mostly Idaho players took the court with a team-first attitude that could lead them to Wayne Estes Tournament glory.

The Elite Eight’s Maurice Thompson and Derek Brown finished with 15 points apiece. Elite Eight is comprised of mostly Eastern Oregon University alumni.

TEAM MAX (71) — Chris Larson 0, Jon Dewolf 8, Chris Allen 6, Booker Nabors 19, Clint Hardemann 3, Mike Nuniz 10, Matt Bouscher 15, Kevin Baker 2, Justin McCarthy 9, Alex Carlson 1.

ELITE EIGHT (49) — Maurice Thomas 15, Jon Cleveland 4, Jared Bligh 5, Dave Scott 0, Justin Nuess 5, Justin Mackay 0, David Tipton 3, Derek Brown 15.

Copperhead Sports 87, Schaplow Law Firm 64

Copperhead Sports Photography showed a lot of athleticism in a convincing 87-64 win over Bozeman’s Schaplow Law Firm.

Simms and James Louis put up 16 points apiece in the win. Darius Beard, a former Weber State standout, had 14 points.

Beard played with the Weber State team that upset North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament years ago.

Schaplow had a 20-point effort from Casey Durham. Carson Durr posted up for 12 points.

COPPERHEAD SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY (87) — David Turcotte 9, Chuck Overton 13, Evric Gray 7, Myron Simms 16, Lossie Mitchell 0, Tony Harvey 12, Darius Beard 14, James Louis 16, Curtis Rice 0.

SCHAPLOW LAW FIRM (64) — Meckler Davis 10, Terry Schaplow 0, Casey Durham 20, Carson Durr 12, Luke Olson 2, Aaron Kurokuna 3, Carlos Taylor 8, Adrien Zamora 6.

In other action, Metal Sports Bar and Grill has a semifinal matchup Sunday morning against Red Tiger after coasting to an impressive quarterfinal win on Saturday. The Butte-based team included local athletes Jake Larson, Noah Thatcher and Tyler Thomas.

The defending champion Mud Lakers and Team Spokane both made their way to the semifinals Saturday.

Anaconda’s Taco Time had a late-night matchup against Oh Shoot, a team with former Browning standouts.

DLM also had a late Saturday semifinal game. That team boasts several members of Dillon’s second-place boys’ team from last season.

The Northwest Pussycats lost out Saturday afternoon against Schock’s Dairy. Shock’s includes several Montana Western alumni, including Tyler Palmer, Kellen Palmer and Neil Christaens.

Shock’s takes on NorDak on Saturday morning with hopes of advancing to the Men’s Open third-place game.

24th Annual Wayne Estes Tournament

Sunday’s Games

Men’s Open

Championship

at Memorial Gym

3 p.m. — Copperhead Sports Photography vs. Team Max

Third-Place

at Memorial Gym

2 p.m. — Morning winners

Men’s B

Semifinals

at Memorial Gym

9 a.m. — Team Spokane vs. Who’s Next

at Fred Moodry Middle School

9 a.m. — Russ Auto Body vs. Northwest Cougars

Championship

at Memorial Gym

Noon — 9 a.m. winners

Men’s 6-foot-1-and-under

Semifinals

at Memorial Gym

8 a.m. — Mud Lakers vs. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter

at Fred Moodry Middle School

8 a.m. — Red Tiger vs. Metals Sports Bar and Grill

Championship

at Memorial Gym

1 p.m. — 8 a.m. winners

Women’s A/B

Semifinals

Late Saturday

Taco Time vs. Oh Shoot

Merganthaler vs. Tire Factory

Championship

at Memorial Gym

4 p.m. — Saturday night winners

Boys’ High School A

Semifinals

Late Saturday

Pussycats vs. DLM

Broncs vs. Tropics

Championship

at Memorial Gym

5 p.m. — Saturday night winners

Boys’ High School B

Championship

at Daly Gym

Noon — Obes Bobes vs. Rule 76 / Stars winner