Olathe East senior Josiah Talbert wins Kansas vs. Missouri all-star dunk contest

The crowd inside the gym fell silent when Olathe East senior Josiah Talbert reached for the ball. In fact, as he lined up his first attempt in an all-star dunk contest on Friday, he said he could feel the sudden hush.

A player who competed in the Kansas Class 6A state tournament sensed his nerves coming to life.

“All eyes on you, and it just goes quiet,” he said. “When it’s dead quiet like that, yeah, you feel the pressure.”

And then he delivered. Talbert won the dunk contest in the Kansas vs. Missouri High School All-Star Challenge at Shawnee Mission South, besting Barstow senior Shea Rush in the championship round.

Talbert, who has committed to Liberty University, passed the ball to himself off the backboard on his final two-handed slam.

“I don't think I brought my A-game. I’m not sure any of us dunked as well as we thought we were going to do,” Talbert said. “But I won, so I guess I can’t complain.”

It was hard to match the show from the past two seasons. When then-Park Hill guard Landry Shamet won the contest last year, he sealed a date to his senior prom as part of the celebration. Former Lee’s Summit West’s Monte Harrison won in 2014 with a between-the-legs slam.

Some highlights scattered Friday’s event, too.

In his first attempt of the championship round, Rush sent home a pass from Lee’s Summit senior Blake Spellman, who stood 15 rows up in the stands as he delivered the ball.

In the opening round, Shawnee Mission North senior Marcus Weathers dunked over a line of three of his taller teammates. He was awarded a perfect 10 from all seven judges.

“God blessed me with some bounce,” Weathers said. “So I was going to utilize it in the dunk contest.”

The contest was sandwiched into halftime of the boys all-star game, which Missouri won 115-111, despite Kansas holding the lead for most of the first half.

O’Hara senior Dezmond McDaniel sparked the comeback with 21 points, including 15 after halftime. He was named the game’s MVP.

“It was a statement game — Missouri against Kansas,” McDaniel said. “We’ve been talking a lot on Twitter this week, so I came out ready to play.”

Barstow senior Jeriah Horne added 16 points for Missouri. Weathers led Kansas with 14 points.

The boys made it a clean sweep for Missouri after the girls from the Show-Me State opened the festivities with a 68-63 victory.

A day after taking home the DiRenna Award as the top player in Kansas City, Liberty senior Morgan Fleming was named the most valuable player of the game with a team-high 12 points.

Missouri jumped out to an early 17-3 lead, fell behind in the third quarter and then fought back to win. Belton senior Liz Bulver hit a game-tying three-pointer with 1:40 remaining that tied the game.

Missouri nailed eight three-pointers. Kearney guard Paige Weakley made three in the opening quarter.

Bishop Miege senior Lakesha Lamaster-Stephens led Kansas with nine points.

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 10:59 PM with the headline "Olathe East senior Josiah Talbert wins Kansas vs. Missouri all-star dunk contest."