After four weeks of intense voting, Elijah Pemberton ’16 has officially won the online slam dunk voting contest and earned a spot at the 2016 American Family Insurance Slam Dunk Championships in Houston, Texas on April 3, which will air live on CBS from 3:30-5:00 pm. The competition will take place the day before the NCAA Final Four Championship game.
As part of the voting contest, Pemberton competed against 15 high school athletes from around the country in a March Madness style bracket for four weeks. Each week, the winner of each bracket advanced towards the finals, with the overall winner earning a spot in the Slam Dunk Championships. The final moments of the voting competition were decided by just two tenths of a percentage with Pemberton edging out another Elijah who attends a public school in Arizona.
Pemberton, who’s already committed to play next year for Hofstra University and its division one men’s basketball program, was the only athlete selected to participate in the voting from New England and will join 24 other high school athletes to compete in the slam dunk championship.
“I’m very humbled by the support I received from everyone,” said Pemberton. “I’m proud to be able to represent Cheshire Academy and my fellow students in Houston.”