Student who hit half-court shot mistakenly thought he won $10,000

West Chester University freshman Jack Lavery thought he won $10,000 while attending a basketball game at his school over the weekend. Lavery was chosen to participate in one of the most traditional halftime contests there is. He had 25 seconds to make a layup, free throw, 3-pointer and a half-court shot for a chance at a bundle of cash. He nailed them all.

After making the layup, free throw and 3-pointer with relative ease, Lavery missed his first attempt at the half-court shot. He still had enough time to chase the ball down and sprint back to half court for one final desperation heave. It went in, but Jack was informed that the money was not his. Apparently he was only allowed one attempt at the half-court shot.

“It was really disappointing,” Lavery’s father Bill Lavery told The Dagger on Monday. “They led us to believe that he won because emcee narrating the whole thing encouraged Jack to take the second shot and left the clock running. That’s where we’re kind of miffed. If they had known the rules, they should have just ended it right after he missed the first shot. They shouldn’t have kept running the clock, played the buzzer and got the crowd into it. Once that happened, we’re believing and he’s believing he won $10,000.”

The contract Lavery signed before participating, which West Chester athletic director Edward Matejkovic shared with The Dagger, showed that Lavery would be given as many attempts as he needed at the first three shots but only one at the half-court shot. Like his father said, the guy running the promotion should not have led him on if he knew the rules.

“He only gets one shot and he knew the rules going in,” Matejkvovic said. “We bought an insurance policy, so our money is gone. It’s not that we don’t want the kid to win the money, but the rules are pretty clear and no insurance company is going to pay up on that.”

Hopefully they tweak the contest in the future. That had to have been an agonizing feeling, especially after hitting such a miraculous shot.