It took Carlos Boozer all of three seconds to make a successful leap from Juneau into the nationally-televised limelight.
Boozer, competing in the 22nd annual McDonald's All American High School Basketball Game on Wednesday, used his game-opening slam dunk as a springboard to one of the night's best performances as he helped the West Team to a 141-128 win over the East.
Boozer finished with 22 points, hitting a sparkling 62 percent (10-of-16) from the field, to tie for the team's second-high scoring honors with Casey Jacobsen of Glendora, Calif.
Boozer also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, had three steals and added a blocked shot in front of 10,993 fans at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa - to say nothing of the millions who watched ESPN's live telecast.
In addition to his heroics during the game, Boozer - wearing his familiar No. 4 - also performed well in the pre-game slam dunk competition, finishing second to Donnell Harvey of Georgia's Randolph-Clay High School.
As strong as Boozer played, though, it was his teammate Jonathan Bender of Picayune (Miss.) Memorial High School who was the game's hero. Bender scored 31 points, breaking the record of 30 points set in 1981 by some guy named Michael Jordan.
"I just can't say enough, it's unbelievable," Bender was quoted as saying on the ESPN SportsZone website. "I can't believe I match up with the greatest."
It's been quite a week for Boozer. On Saturday he finished his stellar career at Juneau-Douglas High School by helping the Bears to a third-place finish at the state championships. On Monday he was voted to the prestigious Parade All America first-team; it was the second year in a row he was voted to the Parade team, becoming one of just eight players on this year's team to earn a repeat nomination.
Also, rumors have been abounding that he'll make his choice between going to school at Duke, St. John's and UCLA in the next couple of weeks.
On Wednesday, competing with the top 20 high school players in the country, he showed why he's been the topic of so many conversations.
Just before the game began, ESPN brought up a highlight reel of Boozer slam-dunking a shot earlier this year in a game against Chugiak.
"Boozer," said ESPN's play-by-play announcer Dave Barnett, "perhaps the next Alaskan Assassin."
Barnett was referring to Trajan Langdon, a former East Anchorage standout who now stars for Duke.
Boozer began the game by taking the opening tip and streaking untouched to the basket for one of his trademark slam dunks.
"He's probably done that a few times in Juneau," said play-by-play announcer, Dave Barnett.
In the second period, Boozer had a steal then converted it to a basket on the other end, posting up with his back to the hoop before spinning and banking a neat 10-footer off the glass. His bucket extended West's lead to 55-43.
He really began to get in the flow of the game in the third quarter. Boozer had a steal and drove for a hoop early in the period, but he was whistled for charging and the basket was waived off. Moments later, he picked an offensive board off the glass and jammed it home; just moments after that he received a nice alley-oop pass from teammate Brett Nelson - ala Crimson Bear teammate James Wilson - and dunked another bucket.
As the second half progressed, Boozer began to assert himself as one of the top rebounders, scoring no less than four buckets off the offensive glass.
"I've been more impressed with his offensive rebounding than anybody," said color commentator Larry Connelly.
Early in the fourth quarter, Boozer threw down another dunk and he turned another offensive board into a basket.
The ESPN camera then cut to a fan in the stands holding a sign that read, "Having a Blue Devil of a time" with the names Jason Williams, Casey Sanders, Michael Dunleavy Jr. and Boozer along the bottom. Williams, Sanders and Dunleavy have already committed to Duke.
Williams, of St. Joseph's High School (Plainfield, N.J.) scored 20 points to lead the East Team. He was voted this year's McDonald's National High School Player of the Year.
In the game's final moments, the fans called for West's players to get the ball into Bender's hands so he could beat Jordan's record. But Boozer could just as easily have had the opportunity - he had 22 points at that point of the game to Bender's 26.
But that mattered little. In fact, Boozer was the first one off the bench to congratulate Bender after he broke the record.
Slam Dunk Competition
Carlos Boozer was hailed by the ESPN announcers even before the slam dunk competition began. Just as the show got under way they cut to a clip of Boozer slamming against Chugiak earlier this season.
"A great talent," slam dunk competition announcer Larry Conley said of Boozer. "Yeah, he can get up."
The McDonald's dunking field was announced and, just before ESPN cut to a commercial break it again ran a clip of Boozer. "Boozer will be ready to dunk on defending champion Donnell Harvey," Conley said.
In the preliminary round, Boozer converted all three of his dunks, including an opening bounce pass-to-self slam.
"This guy has a great physique," said color announcer Dave Sims. "He looks like a big-time college prospect."
Boozer then converted a power dunk following another bounce pass-to-self.
"A very strong, physical player," Sims said. "Has strong legs."
Boozer then finished with a safe, straight-on jam to make sure he had enough points to get into the finals. He finished with 160, tied for third with Damien Wilkins - son of NBA great Gerald Wilkins. Jason Williams was first after the preliminary round with 171; Donnell Harvey had 165.
Those four advanced to the finals, but Williams pulled out of the competition after hurting his left forearm on one of his preliminary jams.
Boozer went first in the finals, successfully completing a strong windmill jam, a nice 360-jam from straight on and tough side-dunk hand from the right side. He and Wilkins tied with 159 points.
Harvey ended up winning the competition again with 173 points. He had a 360 slam, a slam standing from directly under the basket and a pass between the legs in mid-air slam.
