College Slam Dunk Contest 2016: Winner, Highlights and Twitter Reaction

Devan Douglas, a senior guard on the University of Mary Marauders, can lay claim as the best dunker in college basketball after winning Thursday night's College Slam Dunk Championship inside the Berry Center in Cypress, Texas.

Douglas beat out UNLV Rebels senior guard Ike Nwamu in the final. ESPN's Darren Rovell snapped a photo of Douglas holding his newly earned championship belt:  

The Marauders star saved his best stuff for the semifinals. He caught an alley-oop a couple of steps inside the free-throw line and finished with a right-handed flourish, via ESPN College BBall:

"

Your Slam Dunk Champion: Devan Douglas.  https://t.co/miSVDZ5sXw

— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) April 1, 2016"

Nwamu and Eastern Tennessee State Buccaneers senior guard Deuce Bello tied for the lead in the first round after each earning a perfect 40 out of 40 from the judges. They both attempted variations on the between-the-legs dunk.

Nwamu opted more for power, via the event's Twitter account:

Bello, on the other hand, threw in a 360:

Cory Jefferson, a former teammate of Bello's when they played together for the Baylor Bears, was rooting for the Buccaneers star:

Craig Sword arguably provided the moment of the night. The Mississippi State Bulldogs senior guard planned to jump over one of the Denny's mascots—a pancake—before throwing it down. The results were predictably disastrous, as captured by ESPN.com's Brett Edgerton:

For Mike Rutherford of SB Nation's Card Chronicle, the pancake made this year's dunk contest timeless:

Sword certainly earned points for showmanship. And at least he attempted to help the pancake get back up off the court, via Houston Community Newspapers' Joshua Koch:

WSFA 12's Justin McNelley might have gotten to the bottom of the situation:

The semifinals heated up after three of the four dunkers missed on their first attempts. For the time being, Eric Kelly of KOMU 8 Sports didn't think the scores made for great reading:

Eventually, Nwamu and Douglas made it to the final. The former brought the Berry Center back to life with an ode to Vince Carter, via the event's Twitter account:

Nwamu got a bit too ambitious in his pursuit of the championship, though. With an assist from Michigan State Spartans guard Denzel Valentine, he attempted to grab the ball from Valentine's hands and throw down a reverse dunk as his momentum was taking him away from the basket.

He failed with each try, which all but gifted the title to Douglas. His winning dunk was a little underwhelming but got the job done nonetheless. He more than represented the Marauders with distinction.

With any luck, prospective entrants for next year are already hard at work on how they can take Sword's attempt a step further and dunk over an entire Denny's "grand slam" breakfast.

Post-Contest Reaction

Douglas plans on sharing his championship belt with his teammates in Bismarck, North Dakota, per Alex Conover of Northstar Hoops Report:

He also wanted to make sure the University of Mary caught every single moment of his winning performance, per the school's Twitter account:

In the final, it looked as if Nwamu's attempt was all but impossible to complete. On the contrary, he shared a clip of him completing the dunk during practice:

This was one of the few cases where practice didn't make perfect.