Boys Basketball: Elyria's Kendyll Compton wins dunk contest on home floor at Troy DiFranco All-Star Night

ELYRIA — When Elyria's Kendyll Compton was getting ready for his third dunk of the night he needed a little help from his friends. Compton called on Mason Gundert, the son the Pioneers assistant coach Dan Gundert, to stand in the middle of the lane. Compton took flight over the 6-year-old and delivered a one-handed dunk to the delight of the home crowd to win the Slam Dunk Competition that was part of the Troy DiFranco All-Star Night on Wednesday at Elyria High School. Compton was one of seven athletes to compete in the dunk contest. "In practice when I dunking a lot, Mason would always be in there and he'd be asking me to do stuff, I'd be jumping over him and Coach Gundert told me it was an idea to put in the dunk contest," Compton said. Compton, a senior, and Ethan Rogers, a sophomore, represented Elyria in the dunk contest. Compton and Amherst's Mason Lymer both scored 47 out of 50 on their opening dunk to advance to the finals alongside Elyria Catholic's Matisse Williams, who scored 46 on his opener. Compton and Lymer earned a perfect score of 50 on their second dunk to force a third to decide the title. "It was a lot of fun to be a part of that," Compton said. "I was supposed to do it last year but I messed up my hand and wasn't able to do it so I knew I had to come up with something crazy this year. It was a great atmosphere, I was happy to do it at my home high school."The 3-point competition involved 18 players representing almost every school in the county, but at the end it turned into a familiar rivalry as Avon junior Joey Ziegler defeated Avon Lake sophomore Liam Besaw 22-18 in the finals. "That's exactly how you draw it up, beating your rival in the championship," Ziegler said. "Liam is a great player and he's probably going to play in college but it's always great beating your rival."Ziegler advanced to the final with an opening-round score of 24 while Besaw scored 18 in both rounds. Firelands sophomore Jonah Weber just missed out on making the final with a 17. Elyria Catholic's Ben Essenmacher and Open Door's Brayden Bendik each posted a 16. "This is really special for the younger guys, I was in it last year," Ziegler said. "When you haven't been seen that much and you're able to come here and compete with people who are getting all these awards, it's a way to show yourself."I'm glad Elyria is able to host this so everyone can come out and show what they can do."Prior to the start of the Rising Stars games, veteran coach Ed Dolinar was inducted into the Loran County Boys Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Dolinar has been coaching high school basketball for 56 years and has worked with some of the winningest coaches in Lorain County, including Bob Walsh, Jim Lawhead and Alan Januzzi. He's an assistant on Colin Myers' staff at Firelands. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.