Uriah Tenette is Dunk King of Lobo Howl
Deyton Albury goes up for a dunk during the Lobo Howl 2025. Photo credit: Chris Rodarte/Game Pass Media
Uriah Tenette and Kevin Patton Jr. highlighted a fiery finale -- which more than offset a tepid tipoff -- to win the dunk contest at the Lobo Howl on Saturday night in the Pit.
The 5-11 Tenette drove home a quartet of hair-raising slams to edge Patton Jr. in an extra round in front of an estimated crowd of 2,000.
Tenette's winner came on a nasty 360-degree left-handed tomahawk slam.
The four-person dunk competition also included 6-9 junior Antonio Choi and 6-2 senior point guard Deyton Albury.
"Those guys do some stuff in practice that kind of makes you raise your eyebrows," said Eric Olen, UNM's first-year coach. "It's pretty awesome, so nothing really surprised us (those in the program)."
The four dunk-kings created quite a buzz in the event, which was free to attend and introduced the UNM men's and women's teams to their fans.
It didn't exactly get off to a raucous start as a trio from each of the teams was interviewed over the public address system while the teams stretched and warmed up for 45 minutes on the floor.
After that, it was the skills competition, in which a team of two took turns dribbling, passing and shooting bank shots and layups.
The duo of Tajavis Miller (men's team) and Jessi Joaquim (women's team) won the competition in a time of 57.7 seconds.
The 3-point contest followed, and got the crowd going.
Two players would shoot at the same time -- one on each end of Bob King Court -- and the first one to make seven would advance in the bracketed competition.
On the women's side, Kaia Foster beat Nayli Padilla in the finals while Jake Hall defeated JT Rock for the men's title.
Foster then downed Hall 7-4 to win the overall 3-point title.
Uriah's heap of dunks included taking a ball off a teammate's back while jumping over him, doing a back-flip and snatching a bounce-pass feed from his father, Michael Tenette -- who was in the stands near the top of the ramp -- and getting a dish from a teammate.
All ended with vicious throw-downs at the Pit's south end.
Former Lobos Jamal Fenton and Antiesha Brown and Albuquerque Journal reporter Geoff Grammer were the contest's judges.
" I don't know if that's fair, "Olen said with a laugh, referring to Grammer's prediction that Tenette would win it.
"He gets to predict, and then is one of the judges. I don't know about that one."
Photo credit: Chris Rodarte/Game Pass Media
Both Tenette, a freshman from Prescott, Ariz., and Patton, a 6-8 junior, finished their first three dunks -- the last being in the finals -- with 90 of a possible 90 points. A dunk-off was needed and Tenette won 30-26 in the extra round.
As for the evening, Olen said "It's great to get out here with the fans and have our guys get to engage with everybody and let them see a little of what we can do."
As for what the Lobos -- a team with all new players -- are doing now, Olen said "I don't know if we're ever where I want to be, but I think our guys are working hard.
"We're headed in the right direction an they're doing the right thing. I believe in them as people and players. We'll figure it out and we'll be ready to go November. 5th (at home against East Texas A&M in season opener).".
