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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 4:32 p.m., Monday, March 30, 2009

Preps: Texas-bound guard takes McDonald's slam dunk contest

Associated Press

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Texas-bound guard Avery Bradley won the McDonald's All-American slam dunk contest.

Ryan Kelly and Skylar Diggins won the 3-point shootout while Dante Taylor and China Crosby took the skills competition.

Bradley, from Puyallup, Wash., defeated Mason Plumlee and Derrick Favors in the finals.

Bradley earned a perfect score in the first round with two impressive dunks. On his first dunk he was on the baseline, caught the ball off the bounce, and did an impressive double-pump reverse dunk. On his second dunk he caught it off the bounce again and did a one-handed windmill.

"I talked to my friends to find out what dunks I was going to do," Bradley said. "I made it and I knew those dunks were going to give me perfect scores."

His best dunk in the final was when he threw it off the backboard, caught it in mid-air, and did another windmill.

Favors and Plumlee each recorded perfect scores on dunks in the first round, but were unable to put together a top score in the finals to pass Bradley.

But Plumlee tried as he picked up three balls and twice attempted to dunk all three at the same time.

"I didn't know what to think, but if he would have made it, he would have won it," Bradley said.

USC's Demar DeRozan won last year's dunk contest. Other former winners include LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter.

Former NBA star Dominique Wilkins, NFL stars Ed Reed, Shawne Merriman and Steve Smith as well as Grammy-Award winning singer Jon Secada were among the judges in the dunk contest.

Kelly, a 6-foot-10 shooter from Raleigh, N.C. who is headed to Duke, defeated Tommy Mason-Griffin 20-18 in the finals.

Diggins, bound for Notre Dame, defeated TaShauna Rodgers in the finals on the girls side.

"Someone said just shoot it and have fun with it," Diggins said.

Taylor defeated Milton Jennings in the finals of the skills competition and Crosby defeated Dara Taylor.

"It's big for me because I'm a big man and I don't really do guard stuff like that," said the 6-foot-9 Taylor.

The McDonald's All-American games are on Wednesday.