ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Believe it or not, the biggest shot
of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship Sunday didn't
come from the hands of Jahenns Manigat or Doug
McDermott.
That honor belonged to Alex
Permann.
Permann, 24, a South Dakota native
and a student at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, drained a
half-court shot as part of a pregame promotion, sending the crowd of
16,659 at Scottrade Center into a frenzy before the game between
Creighton and Wichita State even
started.
One problem: He didn't hit a
3-pointer first.
As part of a long-standing
Valley promotion, a fan — Permann, in this case — attempts to hit a
layup, a free throw, a 3-pointe, and a half-court shot within 24
seconds. Nail all four, and you take home
$50,000.
Permann got the first two, then
ran to half-court and let it fly. There were two seconds left on the
clock when the prayer was answered, and the optometry student thought
he'd won the big one. And he was visibly disappointed afterward — so was
the crowd — when told that he'd forgotten about the
3-pointer.
"Little bitter about that,"
Permann told FOX Sports Kansas City. "But oh well. Hopefully we can get
enough press and pressure them into hopefully (handing over the
money)."
Unfortunately for Permann, he
signed away his rights to a prize before hitting the floor. Missouri
Valley Conference officials showed FOX Sports Kansas City an affidavit,
signed by Permann, that read, in part:
"I
understand that in no way am I guaranteed any prize of any value, and
that the only way I will win the grand prize is by successfully making a
layup, free throw, 3-point shot and half-court shot in 24 seconds, as
required by contest rules."
So, basically,
the Valley is off the hook.
But league
officials didn't want Permann to walk away empty-handed, either. So they
gave him a lifetime all-session pass to the MVC Tournament; contest
sponsor Casey's provided a year's supply of pizza and
doughnuts.
The kid's grateful, don't get
him wrong — the estimated value of those lifetime tickets is around $155
per year.
One catch, though: Permann's a
Creighton fan, and there are strong indications that this might be the
Jays' last visit to Arch Madness. The MVC champs are expected to join
the revamped Big East, perhaps as soon as this
summer.
"That's what I'm kind of confused
about, but oh well," Permann chuckled. "It was an awesome
experience."
According to the MVC office,
that was the second near-miss on the 24-second shot contest in six
years. In 2007, a participant hit the layup, the free throw and the
3-pointer, but the $50,000 half-court shot popped in and out of the
cylinder.
You can follow Sean
Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler
or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com
