High School Player Passes Ball to Opposing Team—on Purpose (VIDEO)

Mitchell Markus is in high school, and like many kids his age, he loves the game of basketball. A student at Coronado High in El Paso, TX, Markus is also intellectually challenged. He helps manage his school's basketball team, but he's never been able to play on it—until recently.

Coach Peter Morales decided that during the last game of the regular season, he would give Markus the opportunity to suit up and enjoy court time with his team for the final ten minutes of the game. We defy you not to tear up at what happened next.

But Markus' winning streak didn't end at the final buzzer.

This morning, ESPN's SportsCenter aired a clip of the high school student landing his last-second shot. And according to The El Paso Times, Markus' television time might have been more exciting for him than his basketball time. "I've wanted to be on ESPN my entire life," he said. "I wish we could [have] taken the whole day off today."

The Markus family held a viewing party for his friends and teammates to watch the first broadcast of SportsCenter this morning; Coronado High School's principal allowed them to skip their first two periods in order to catch it.

Aaron Velasco is Markus' cousin and told the El Paso Times, "Mitchell has been working hard for us all season. He worked just as hard as we did and for him to get on SportsCenter is a big deal."

Related Stories on TakePart:

• Cerebral Palsy Champion Steve Wampler Tackles El Capitan

• Follow Blind Athlete Jordan Mouton as She Trains for 2012 Paralympics

• Clip of the Day: Yoga Heals Disabled Vet

A Bay Area native, Andri Antoniades previously worked as a fashion industry journalist and medical writer.  In addition to reporting the weekend news on TakePart, she volunteers as a webeditor for locally-based nonprofits and works as a freelance feature writer for TimeOutLA.com. Email Andri | @andritweets | TakePart.com