{"id":106360,"date":"2025-12-02T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=106360"},"modified":"2026-01-09T15:47:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:47:22","slug":"paint-the-meridian-red-badgers-gear-up-for-electrifying-basketball-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/12\/paint-the-meridian-red-badgers-gear-up-for-electrifying-basketball-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Paint the Meridian Red: Badgers gear up for \u2018electrifying\u2019 basketball clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Downtown St. Catharines will be buzzing when the Badgers take on the McMaster Marauders next month during Brock University\u2019s Paint the Meridian Red basketball showcase.<\/p>\n<p>The two teams will renew their rivalry for the third consecutive year on Saturday, Jan. 31 at the Meridian Centre.<\/p>\n<p>The night\u2019s festivities begin with the women\u2019s game at 6 p.m. followed by the men\u2019s game at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets \u2014 including general admission, club level and courtside seats \u2014 can be purchased at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketmaster.ca\/brock-badgers-v-mcmaster-marauders-basketball-st-catharines-ontario-01-31-2026\/event\/100062CBD47C3EBB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ticketmaster.ca<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For David Velasco, Interim Manager of Events and Partnerships with Brock Sports, Paint the Meridian Red is an opportunity to see the Brock community unite.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPaint the Meridian Red is the night our entire Brock Badgers community comes together to demonstrate its pride,\u201d Velasco said. \u201cThe energy and enthusiastic fans in the stands show exactly what it means to be a Badger. It\u2019s an incredible honour to help create an experience that brings our community together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Having been with the Brock men\u2019s basketball program since 2016, lead assistant coach William Gatchalian understands the significance of this event for the student-athlete experience and its impact on the Niagara basketball community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis event is always a great experience for our players and staff and the overall Brock community. It\u2019s exciting for our student-athletes to get to play under the bright lights of a professional basketball venue, and few U SPORTS teams get the opportunity to host an annual arena game,\u201d said Gatchalian, who also serves as an assistant coach with the Niagara River Lions of the Canadian Elite Basketball League.<\/p>\n<p>Mackenzie Robinson, a former Brock Badgers women\u2019s basketball player and this year\u2019s new lead assistant coach, is equally impressed by the game\u2019s strong community spirit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe atmosphere on this night at the Meridian Centre, with an arena full of community members, students and fans cheering on Brock basketball, is electrifying.\u201d Robinson said. \u201cThere is always strong support from the greater Niagara community through our summer golf alumni events and during the regular season, but when Paint the Meridian Red happens, we see that support grow tenfold. This event is an excellent reminder of the importance of hosting community events and how privileged we are to showcase Brock University sports.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During the Paint the Meridian Red event, fans can explore a community zone with family-friendly activities, browse Brock Badgers merchandise at the Brock Campus Store and expect giveaways to take place throughout both games.<\/p>\n<p>Students will also get free transportation to and from campus included with the purchase of their ticket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Downtown St. Catharines will be buzzing when the Badgers take on the McMaster Marauders next month during Brock University\u2019s Paint the Meridian Red basketball showcase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":106918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9794,7484,3319,1,58],"tags":[11845,255,4819,694],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106360"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106366,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106360\/revisions\/106366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}