The Northern Iowa men's basketball team is really fun to watch and it was an entertaining game Wednesday night at the McLeod Center, as the Panthers beat Illinois State 71-63, star player A.J. Green scored his 1,000th career point and the team extended their home-winning streak to 15 in a row. But that's not what is making local, state and national headlines...

A halftime contest giving a student a chance to win $10,000 was making local and even national news headlines when they initially denied UNI student Dalton Hinsch the prize money. However, the UNI Athletics department released a statement Friday afternoon:

UNI Athletics and CB Seeds are excited to award Dalton Hinsch $10,000. He will also receive a package to watch the Panthers at Arch Madness, which includes tickets and a hotel stay.

Wednesday, Dalton was chosen to participate in the $10,000 CB Seeds shot promotion at UNI. Per the strict execution of the rules, he understood the time limit of 24 seconds and also that there is no assistance of rebounding for the promotion. During the promotion, the final shot was attempted after 24 seconds, which unfortunately negates the insurance policy that covers the grand prize for the promotion.

However, there was confusion as to how much time remained when he attempted and made the half-court shot.

Due to the confusion from the crowd and Dalton, UNI and CB Seeds have made the decision to pay Dalton the $10,000 grand prize and MVC Tournament Prize Package.

"Thank you to UNI and CB Seeds for the prize," Hinsch said. "I understood the rules prior to the contest, and am truly grateful for UNI and CB Seeds going above and beyond and awarding me the $10,000. I look forward to seeing the Panthers win it all in St Louis!"

CB Seeds is thrilled to partner with UNI Athletics and be a part of the $10,000 CB Seeds Shot promotion.

"We love UNI Athletics and are excited to be associated with Panther basketball," CB Seeds' Chuck Becker said. "We are sorry about the confusion that took place Wednesday night, but we are happy to reward Dalton for an amazing effort. We look forward to enjoying the rest of this great season and watching the Panthers continue their successful year."

UNI has two more home games remaining and we look forward to the opportunity to give two more students the chance to win $10,000 courtesy of CB Seeds. (Parkersburg)

 

The contest features a student getting a chance at the prize if they make a lay-up, a free throw, a three-pointer and a half-court shot within 24 seconds with no rebound help. However, the rules were evidently not made clear to the crowd. Fans in the stands thought he had :30 seconds to make the 4 shots. It didn't help that the on-court announcer added to the confusion. Watch the video below and listen to the announcer, he literally gives a countdown, "2,1, throw ittttt" then Hinsch unleashes the half-court heave, while the announcer is still saying "throw itttt"...and promply drains the shot. The crowd goes wild, then confusion sets in and "boo's" starting raining down from the stands. It's also not clear who was running the :24 second stop-watch and why the actual shot clock wasn't used. However, this video shows he actually completed the task in :27 seconds.


Here's the UNI athletics department initial response on Twitter: 

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