Going into Belmont men’s basketball’s game on Saturday, junior Mason Fuller thought he’d give the opening invocation and then enjoy the game.
But by the end of the game, Fuller had earned a free semester of tuition through Belmont’s half-court shot for tuition.
Being a transfer student, Fuller was unaware of the contest and thought the shot was only for a few hundred dollars.
As he was told the rules, the pressure began mounting.
“I thought it would be a rack of balls with twenty seconds like College Gameday originally, so when I found out it was one ball, it added some pressure,” Fuller said.
With only one shot, he knew he couldn’t leave it short or long.
It had to be perfect.
Fuller said he shot it with his palm, ensuring that there was no rotation on the ball from his fingertips.
Swish
Once the ball found its way through the net, Fuller couldn’t process the moment.
“After I watched it go through, it took me a second or two to process what had happened and then I heard the cheer from the crowd,” he said.
At one point, Fuller’s heart rate reached 203 beats per minute as he celebrated with the crowd, jumping up and down.
After the shot, Fuller received messages from the athletic department and President Greg Jones, congratulating him on the shot.
The biggest congratulations came on X, formerly known as Twitter, from ESPN’s Pat McAfee, who Fuller has been watching since 2020.
Fuller also appeared on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” completing a lifelong dream of his.
“As a child who grew up watching SportsCenter every morning before school seeing all his favorite athletes and sports analysts, it was awesome to see my name on that screen during the segment they did on the shot,” Fuller said. “Being on ESPN and SportsCenter was a childhood dream of mine, so being able to see my name on there was a childhood dream come true to an extent.”
-
This article was written by Ty Wellemeyer.