HOUSTON – After winning the State Farm College Slam Dark Horse Dunker Fan Vote competition last week, East Stroudsburg University men's basketball forward Carlos Pepin is set to compete in the 2023 King's Hawaiian College Slam Dunk contest on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET at the Bayou Music Center. Pepin's talents will be broadcasted nationally on ESPN2.

Pepin was one of 16 non-Division I student-athletes nominated for the State Farm Dark Horse Dunker Fan Vote, earning the most votes in the social media contest through the first round, quarterfinal, semifinal and final round to book his flight to Houston.

The graduate student will compete against some of the top NCAA Division I dunkers in Emmanuel Ansong (Vanderbilt), Austin Ash (The Citadel), Kamarai Brown (Georgian Southern), Shaquan Jules (Radford) and Ahmad Rand (Milwaukee) .

This will be his second postseason adventure in less than a week for the Lodi, N.J. native, who posted 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds at the NABC/Reese's NCAA Division II All-Star Game last Friday in Evansville, Ind. His NABC West team took down NABC East, 155-149.

The Lodi, N.J. native ranked ninth in the country in double-doubles with 14 on the season, leading the Warriors in both scoring (17.4 ppg) and rebounding (9.0 rpg) as ESU earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in program history.

This season, Pepin's 587 points ranks sixth most in a single season (most since Jonathan Roberts' season record of 689 in 1989-90). His 287 rebounds rank eighth among Warriors in a single season, with his output being the highest since the all-time leading rebounder Roberts posted 332 in 1989-90.

Pepin will look to join three State Farm Dark Horse Dunker Fan Vote winners that went on to win the Slam Dunk Championship in Marcus Lewis (Eastern Kentucky, 2014), James Justice (Martin Methodist College, 2012) and Jacob Tucker (Illinois College, 2011).