Long Island Special Needs Student Has One Incredible Basketball Story To Tell

MASTIC BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A special student on Long Island is still feeling like a king.

His basketball coach put him in a game for the first time and made a lifetime dream come true, CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported.

Calvin Lawson admitted Wednesday that he couldn't stop watching the play.

The 15-year-old special needs student at William Floyd High School was mobbed after hitting the last shot of a recent game. It wasn't the winning shot – his team was up by a dozen points – but with less than two minutes left in a big game against a rival his coach called his name.

There was one problem, though. Lawson was in sweat pants after he accidentally left his uniform shorts at home. Star teammate Michael Bradley didn't hesitate.

"I volunteered. I told the coach if I could take him to locker room, I would give him my shorts so he could get into the game," Bradley said. "It was an incredible moment to see. What a lifetime thing for Calvin and it was a dream come true."

Lawson's mother said he's been floating on air since hitting the big shot that helped win the game. It seems the entire student body is now supporting him.

"Everybody starts hopping on me telling me 'good job," Lawson said.

He told McLogan he loves his teammates.

"Yes, they help me out all the time," he said. "Last year I wasn't even good enough to play on the court. Now I got a chance to go on the court and score the last shot."

His coaches, Tom Sicari and Darrell Sumpter, said they've never been around a more loving, generous and loyal kid worthy of everyone's respect.

"We were all pretty emotional," Sicari said.

"(Lawson is) making our school closer, kids are getting closer," Sumpter added.

As a player and fan, Lawson is following the career of a basketball legend at William Floyd, Kim Barnes Arico, who graduated from the Suffolk County school, is the successful head of the women's basketball team at the University of Michigan.

She recently invited back letter winners, including McLogan, for Michigan's annual alumni game weekend. Lawson said he thinks he has something to offer her squad.

"I want to be assistant coach," he said with a smile.

If coach Barnes Arico is listening, there is indeed a talented student at her alma mater who wants to join her on the Big Ten bench.

Calvin's last game of the season is on Friday when William Floyd takes on Ward Melville. The teen said he's praying he gets to see some more action in that matchup.