Dunk nearly brings down the hoop on rival

We’ve all read about a killer dunk before where a basketball player launches himself over a rival to slam the ball home.

However, we’re not sure whether a dunk has ever come as close to causing serious harm to a defender as one did during a college basketball clash in the US.

Footage of the match shows Northern Illinois University(NIU) big man Pete Rakocevic slam home a dunk against Central Michigan.

Chippewas player John Simons, oblivious to the fact that the hoop is tilting precariously, collects the ball and runs under the backboard to restart play.

Only at the last possible moment does he realise the hoop and backboard is collapsing as a result of the 2.11m giant’s dunk, ducking his head out of the way and escaping injury.

Once the hoop was fixed NIU ran out winners, 73-55.