BioSteel All-Canadian Game/Skills competition
Written by Jas Grewal
Monday, April 13th marked the inaugural BioSteel All-Canadian skills event which took place at the Athletic Institute in Orangeville, Ont., Along with the skills competition was the first ever Future All-Canadian game which highlighted some of the top freshman and sophomore high-school players from around the country.
Although the score could have been a little bit closer, the Future All-Canadians game did not disappoint in the slightest.
Even with southpaw R.J. Barrett doing his best to help the boys in white win it by pouring in a game-high 24 points, it was Kajon Gordon-Stephens and the second half heroics of Kobey Lam that helped team blue pull out the decisive 89-69 win.
Gordon-Stephens had a team high 18 points while Lam, Khaleem Bennett and Stefan Smith added 15 points each.
Barrett had a game-high 24 points in the team’s loss, while Miykah McIntosh chipped in with 13 points as well.
Sport Chek 3 point Shootout
The Sport Chek 3-pt shootout was nothing short of stellar as Canada’s elite high-school long- range shooters looked to dial in and attempt to take home the hardware in the evening competition.
With excellent shooters such as Vermont Academy’s Corey Johnson (Harvard commit), Orangeville Prep’s Thon Maker and St. Michael’s Kobey Ketavong, there was no real way of knowing who was going to come out victorious, until the end of the first round, of course, where Johnson and Ketavong – who both possess beautiful shooting strokes to go along with consistent mechanics – led the group of seven players in total three pointers made; Johnson had 15 makes while Ketavong had 13.
By the final round it was the younger Ketavong (sophomore) and Johnson (Senior) duking it out with one another with Johnson catching fire near the latter end of the round.
Ketavong had a great final round with 15 points but it was Johnson who made his final shot, which happened to be a money ball, to help him tally 16 points and sneak by for the one point win over a disappointed Ketavong.
Both competitors put on a phenomenal show for spectators – a sufficient appetizer for a delightful meal, or in this case, the BMO Slam Dunk Competition.
BMO Slam Dunk Competition
If you haven’t already seen the countless videos and pictures circulating social media, then it will be difficult to capture the gaudiness of the BMO dunk-off through a collection of words.
The contest was judged by TSN’s Cabral “Cabbie” Richards & Kate Beirness, as well as Lindsay Walsh from the Ontario Basketball Association, former Canadian Sr. Men’s team member and Olympian Michael Meeks and On Point Basketball’s very own Drew Ebanks.
Although every competitor put on a spectacular display of dunks, with some dunks receiving louder ovations than others, it was the aforementioned Kajon Gordon-Stephens and Jalen Poyser show at the Athlete Institute on Monday evening.
Both Gordon-Stephens and Poyser completed on an array of NBA-esque (dunk-off) dunks throughout the competition, but it was Gordon-Stephens bounce pass alley-oop, through the legs dunk that had fans erupt onto centre court to congratulate the d’Youville guard. Perhaps the best dunk of the night, some will argue.
Poyser was no slouch, either. The 6’4” guard and UNLV commit from Orangeville Prep connected on good number of finesse throw-downs that had fans in awe—especially his bounce pass alley-oop, reverse two-handed windmill that looked almost impossible to complete, which he did effortlessly.
Although both finalists did their part and put on an entertaining show for the audience, there could only be one winner.
Poyser’s ability to pull off high degree of difficulty dunks coupled with his consistent finishing ability was the deciding factor in this one and thus he was crowned the winner of the Inaugural BMO BioSteel All-Canadians Slam Dunk Competition.
By Jas Grewal
Drew Ebanks
