Anderson, Bowman, Weise the big winners at 3-Point and Dunk contests

HAMILTON » With a little help from three of his classmates, Cartier Bowman put on a show to win the first ever WBCB Sunshine Foundation dunk contest.

Bowman walked it off with a perfect score of 50 in the championship round after he leapt over his Notre Dame high classmates and slammed the ball with one hand.

That brought the crowd at Trenton Catholic’s Iron Palace to its feet.

“I’m actually surprised I got over three people because I usually jump over one,” Bowman said. “The kids today at my school were like, “Cartier, can you jump over me?’ I was like, ‘I might as well.’ I got three people from my school to come out here.”

Bowman beat out a solid field that also included Trenton’s Reggie James, Ewing’s Shemar Robinson and King’s Christian’s Darius Gary.

“I know mostly everyone in the dunk contest, so it was good to be around them,” Bowman said. “I thought (the judges) were going to give me something lower because I missed the first one, but I liked it.”

Bowman wasn’t the only big winner on the night.

Hightstown’s Jamal Anderson took the boys 3-Point Shootout and Allentown’s Ryan Weise was the girls winner.

Anderson nearly didn’t make the final three after he missed the final ball on his second rack of the first round, but recovered to post on of the top three scores.

“I mis-counted and thought I shot all five,” Anderson said. “I fell behind and I was rushing the rest of my shots as I went on.”

The Rams senior hit three of the four Sunshine balls — the last ball of the rack worth two points — in the championship round to win with a score of 14.

He finished ahead of Nottingham’s Richie Jones and Ewing’s Robinson.

“I knew how many shots I had to make,” Anderson said. “I got hot early and was able to finish strong.”

Weise, one of the most prolific shooters in CVC history, edged ran the second rack and made six in a row at one point to record 16 points and beat out Steinert’s Natalie Mehl and Robbinsville Fiona Aromando.

“The first round, I didn’t know the last shot was the money ball, so I was just out there having fun,” Weise said. “For the second round, I tried to focus on that last shot and make sure I got those two points.”

Anderson and Weise faced off in a shootout of the two winners with both scoring 15 points, which led to a one rack shoot-off. Anderson hit the Sunshine ball to clinch it, 5-4.

“This was a great event,” Weise said. “Going against Mercer County’s best shooters was awesome.”

JOHN BLAINE — FOR THE TRENTONIAN Notre Dame’s Cartier Bowman leaps over three of his classmates before dunking the ball during the WBCB Sunshine Foundation Dunk Contest on Thursday night at TCA. Bowman received a perfect score of 50 for the slam.

JOHN BLAINE — FOR THE TRENTONIAN Allentown’s Ryan Weise, left, and Hightstown’s Jamal Anderson, right, pose with their trophies after winning the girls and boys 3-Point Shootouts at the WBCB Sunshine Foundation event at TCA on Thursday night.