Story by Ciara Benham, Staff writer 

A Murray State student won a free semester of tuition after shooting a half court shot during a basketball game on Feb. 7.

Peyton Cadwell, freshman from McCracken County, Kentucky, won a scholarship that covers tuition for the fall 2019 semester by completing a series of basketball shots.

The promotion, called “Shoot for Scholarships,” is sponsored by Leon Owen, president and CEO of Swift & Staley out of Paducah. Devan Maki, Racer properties general manager, collaborated with Owen to create the promotion.

Students have 30 seconds to complete a lay-up, free throw, three-pointer and a half-court shot. For each shot made, the student receives a certain amount of scholarship money to be directly applied to their student account.

Maki said the promotion is a tactic used to benefit the businesses that work with the athletics department as well as the students that attend the games.

“As athletics can serve as the window into a university, it is important that we create a great experience for all that attend and watch our events,” Maki said. “The fact that we can show prospective students that they can win prizes such as a free semester’s tuition, and cause the entire crowd to get extremely excited and create a contagious environment that a student will want to be a part of.”

Just two hours before the game, Cadwell heard about the opportunity through a friend, who was in charge of picking a student to participate in the promotion.

Cadwell said he wasn’t feeling very confident about the promotion during his 20 minute practice prior to the event.

“I got to the game right as they were announcing starting lineups and they took me to the practice gym where I spent about 5 minutes going through the shot sequence that I would be doing,” Cadwell said. “At that time it wasn’t looking very good for me, I made one half-court shot and was very inconsistent with the other ones.”

However, once the event took place, Cadwell completed the series of shots and was awarded the scholarship.

Cadwell said he was more in shock at the result than excitement, and his parents were equally surprised.

“My parents couldn’t believe it,” Cadwell said. “My dad’s reaction was just complete surprise, like I don’t think he believed it at first. My mom’s phone was dead when it happened but when she got it back on, she went crazy and called me. Both of them were just very happy.”

Despite an injury, Josh Young, junior from Princeton, Kentucky, won $500 on Feb. 9 for making a layup, free throw and 3-pointer.

“I had previously separated my AC joint in my right shoulder a few weeks earlier on a snowboarding trip,” Young said. “I was hesitant at first because I wasn’t sure if my shoulder would be able to shoot since I hadn’t shot anytime after the accident. But, I found some ibuprofen and toughed it out.”

Participants must be from Kentucky, attending Murray State the following semester and are randomly selected at Racer basketball games.