VERMILION — Adam Quinones doesn’t have a name for his slam dunk, but you can call it “Winner.”
The 6-foot-5 North Ridgeville senior drew a raucous cheer from a big crowd in the Vermilion High gym Sunday night with an acrobatic dunk that made history.
A panel of judges said Quinones was best among 13 running, jumping, rim-hanging basketball players in the first annual slam dunk competition sponsored by the Lorain County Basketball Coaches Association.
The crowd-pleasing dunking followed the first-ever and equally entertaining 3-point shootout, won by Keystone junior Kyle Smith.
The groundbreaking special attractions served as warmup acts for the coaches association’s annual Gene Legeza Classic, a game between teams of Lorain County senior all-stars. The crowd loved it.
“We kind of ran out of stuff (slam dunk routines), because everybody had already done everything,” said Quinones.
Actually, it’s hard to describe his slam dunk with no name. Quinones tried.
“It had to be either something from behind the backboard or I had to go straight on. I wasn’t going off the board, because everyone had already done that,” he said. “I just had to go as far back behind my head with the ball as I could and put it down.”
Which he did. But, come now, Quinones. Do you not call this history-maker something?
“No, no,” he laughed. “Just behind-the-head, that’s all I can come up with.”
The Wildcats’ Smith bested a field of 17 in the 3-point shooting contest. In this event, the long-range shooters had 75 seconds to shoot five basketballs from each of five spots around the 3-point arc. They received one point for making any of the first four balls they shot from a spot and two points for the fifth.
The idea was that after everyone had shot, the top two point-makers would square off for the championship. But this cutting-edge event was made even more interesting when three players wound up in the final shootout.
Here’s how it happened: Open Door’s Brendan McNabb outscored the field with 19 points in the opening round. But Smith and Columbia’s Richie Bics tied for second with 16 points apiece. Both were included in the showdown. Smith’s 16-point final round topped McNabb’s 14 points and Bics’ 11.
“I feel great, but I was nervous when McNabb came around the top of the arc,” Smith said.
Had McNabb made his final two shots, he would have claimed the title.
“I spend quite a bit of time shooting threes, because it’s a big part of my game during the regular season,” said Smith. “I’d say that in practice, any time I get, I shoot.”
Smith drained about 30
3-pointers during the season. But against the long-distance shooting job he did last season as a sophomore, he was his own tough act to follow.
“My first varsity game ever I went 6-for-6,” he said.
Avon coach Jim Baker was an enthusiastic supporter of adding the 3-point and dunk competitions as a way to heighten interest in the association’s annual event. Proceeds go to its scholarship fund.
“I think that’s why we wanted to create some more interest, because it’s our scholarship fund,” Baker said. “People had got accustomed to our same routine (two senior all-star games).
“We got to thinking about how we could jazz it up, and with the popularity of the NBA right now, we thought, ‘Why don’t we try this?’ I’ll be honest, we didn’t know how it would be received, but we have a very good crowd here.”
Contact Bob Daniels at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. 

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