There weren’t many memorable shots in the NBA’s poorly received new All-Star Game format, but one college student managed to outdo Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks to win a six-figure prize Sunday.
Jaren Barajas, a freshman at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, Calif., went up against Lillard in the MrBeast $100,000 Challenge.
Barajas, 18, was tasked with hitting one shot from the logo beyond the 3-point line at the Chase Center in San Francisco before Lillard could hit three.
During the timed competition that was capped at three minutes, Lillard, an eight-time All-Star, hit a pair of shots from the logo, but Barajas then banked one in with less than 30 seconds remaining on the clock.
It led to an emotional reaction from Barajas, as well as TNT broadcasters Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith, who hugged the teeneager, who was then carried around by NBA mascots and dumped into a box of cash and covered with bank notes.
“It was coming down to the wire, we had 30 seconds left and my Dad always tells me, ‘Use the backboard’,” Barajas said, according to the AP. “That’s what I had to do to make it go in.”
Barajas later called the money-making shot “life-changing.”
“This is going to mean the world to me,” Barajas said. “It’s going to help my family a lot and definitely my future. Hopefully, it’ll help me pay for my education.”
Lillard, who also took part in the 3-point contest, but couldn’t defend his two-time crown — with Miami’s Tyler Herro taking it — added, “I love being part of stuff like that where you can impact somebody else.”
Barajas had been selected out of the crowd at random. A former high school basketball player, Barajas graduated from Freedom High School in Oakley, Calif. last year.
“I got surprised with these tickets [Saturday], so I didn’t even know I was coming to the game,” Barajas said. “So to have this experience, it’s so surreal. I’m so thankful … I just beat Damian Lillard.”
