All’s well that ends well.
UMass student Noah Lee will get the $10,000 prize he was initially denied for a halftime contest that he participated in on Wednesday at a women’s hoops game.
Lee made a layup, a free throw, a 3-pointer and a half-court shot in under 30 seconds and was supposed to receive a $10,000 prize, but was informed by an insurance company the following day that his foot had been over the line on the half-court shot – a rule of the contest that he wasn’t aware of – and wouldn’t be getting the money.
On Friday, the Amherst, Mass. school told The Post that Lee would get the cash and some “additional UMass athletics benefits.”
UMass student Noah Lee was denied his $10,000 prize by an insurance company that deemed his foot was over the line. Josh Schreiber/X
The school stepped in and will pay Lee his prize money for making a layup, a free throw, a 3-pointer and a half-court shot in under 30 seconds. Josh Schreiber/X
“We appreciate Noah taking part in the series shootout promotion at our recent women’s basketball game and applaud his efforts,” the school said in a statement provided to The Post. “After the contest, we informed Noah we would share the footage with our insurance partner as the next step. After their review of the four camera angles we provided, they determined the half-court shot was disqualified as it was not taken behind the half-court line. We weren’t satisfied with that outcome and arrived at the decision to provide Noah with both a $10,000 award and a host of additional UMass athletics benefits.”
In a statement on Friday, OddsOn Promotions, which sponsors the event, said it was not involved “in the initial invalidation of the contest win.”
“Media coverage of a February 5 University of Massachusetts basketball halftime contest
inaccurately represented Odds On Promotions, a promotions company for this contest, in the
University’s decision to award prize money to a participating student,” the statement read. No formal claim or request for prize money was made by the University to Odds On in this matter.
“All decisions regarding a prize payout in this matter were made solely at the University’s discretion, as we had not performed our standard 30-day claims process. Odds On was not involved in the initial
invalidation of the contest win and only became aware of the University’s decision to not pay the
contestant through media coverage.”
News of the situation drew attention after Lee’s friend, Josh Schreiber, the UMass play-by-play announcer, posted about the ordeal on X, first showing the video of his pal completing the challenge and then the update that he wouldn’t get the money.
UMass men’s basketball coach Frank Martin had replied to the post asking Lee or Schreiber to DM him and on Friday morning, athletic director Ryan Bamford had posted on social media that the school was finding a way to honor the contest reward.
“For all those wondering, we’re working on getting $10K to Noah,” he wrote. “If we can’t get to a good result via the insurance company, we will pay him directly. We appreciate his support of @UMassAthletics & want to reward his fun accomplishment the other night at our @UMassWBB game.”
MY FRIEND JUST DID THIS FOR $10k AT THE @UMassWBB GAME!!!#SCtop10pic.twitter.com/czpu4jSNXf
— Josh Schreiber (@Jschreiber272) February 6, 2025
Josh Schreiber/XPrior to Friday’s announcement, UMass had originally offered Lee a number UMass-related prizes as a makeup for not awarding the $10,000, which included suite tickets to a men’s game, courtside tickets to a women’s game and a chance to compete in another halftime competition.
While the situation had been disappointing for Lee, he seemed in good spirits when speaking with WHDH on Thursday.
“Really grateful for the opportunity just to participate,” Lee told WHDH. “It was a really cool moment. A really cool experience.”
