Teven Jones can dunk. First time I saw him at the start of his postgrad year at Fishburne Military School, he stole the show in a dunk contest that FMS coach Ed Huckaby arranged for cadets and kids from the Waynesboro YMCA.
Not bad for a kid that we’re saying is six-feet-even.
But dunking in a contest and dunking in a game are two entirely different things, and the role that Jones plays at UVa., where he is a backup point guard, doesn’t lead to a lot of opportunities.
Like, until the 5:30 mark of the second half of Virginia’s 65-45 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday in Charlottesville.
Jones stole a pass and had open court ahead of him. Everyone in the gym assumed he would glide in for a layup, but Jones had something else in mind.
Now we’ll let teammate Anthony Gill tell the story.
“I was kind of scared. I was like, What is he doing? when he started slowing down,” said Gill.
Jones slowed, then threw down, then looked back at the Virginia bench.
“I went crazy. I thought they called the tech on me,” said Gill, but no, Jones was teed up for taunting, even though the taunting, such as it was, was directed at his teammates.
@PJesperson I yelled at the bench and a tech player just happened to be there. So they said I was taunting smh
— Teven Jones (@TJonesUVA5) January 26, 2014
Jones’ Twitter account blew up all Saturday night after the dunk with teammates, former teammates, friends, fans, with plenty of well wishes, teases, expressions of surprise and the like.
Even coach Tony Bennett had a laugh after the game, conceding that Jones has a 1-0 career lead over him in the dunk department.
“I tried to dunk in the teachers vs. students game in high school. So I had one attempt at a dunk when I was a senior in high school. That was my one shot at it,” Bennett said.
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Chris Graham
