{"id":107393,"date":"2026-02-02T15:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T20:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=107393"},"modified":"2026-02-02T17:29:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T22:29:34","slug":"excitement-surges-through-downtown-as-brock-paints-the-meridian-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2026\/02\/excitement-surges-through-downtown-as-brock-paints-the-meridian-red\/","title":{"rendered":"Excitement surges through downtown as Brock Paints the Meridian Red"},"content":{"rendered":"

The roar of the crowd echoed throughout the Meridian Centre\u00a0on Saturday, Jan. 31\u00a0as the Brock Badgers men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball teams\u00a0faced off against the McMaster Marauders in a thrilling doubleheader matchup.<\/p>\n

Fans of all ages came ready to cheer on their hometown Badgers at the eighth edition of Paint the Meridian Red,\u00a0where the Brock women ultimately fell 86-72\u00a0and the men conquered their opponents\u00a0by\u00a0a score of 89-71.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaint the Meridian Red is a special night\u00a0that is about\u00a0more than just basketball; it\u2019s a celebration of school spirit, pride and tradition,\u201d said\u00a0Courtney Smith,\u00a0Associate Director, Brock\u00a0Sports\u00a0and Recreation.\u00a0\u201cStudents, alumni,\u00a0families\u00a0and fans from across the Niagara region came together\u00a0to fill the\u00a0Meridian Centre\u00a0with an energy you\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0replicate anywhere else. This night is\u00a0a reminder that Brock\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0just a university, but a family\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0proud to share with the entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

St. Catharines’ own Madalyn Weinert brought the energy for her final Paint the Meridian Red game with the Brock Badgers on Saturday, Jan. 31.<\/p><\/div>\n

St. Catharines\u2019 own Madalyn Weinert<\/a>, playing in her final Paint the Meridian Red game, led the way for the Brock women\u2019s team, finishing with 25 points and 17 rebounds for her 13th consecutive double-double of the season. Also finishing in double digits were Vienna Vercesi and Janee Harrison, who delivered 11 and 10 points, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really great experience as a first-year [player], and the fans were\u00a0amazing,” guard Mikayla Williams said of her Paint the Meridian debut.\u00a0\u201cIt was very inspiring to see the next generation of players in the crowd. This is bigger than basketball because there are young females out there being inspired by us.\u201d<\/p>\n

After trailing by nine points at halftime, the Badgers women surged with a late comeback\u00a0attempt, outscoring their opponents 19-15\u00a0in the third quarter before\u00a0ultimately dropping the contest 86-72.<\/p>\n

The Badgers women continue to hold their second-place position in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Central Division and are set to head to Ottawa for matchups with the Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton Ravens on Saturday, Feb. 7 and Sunday, Feb. 8.<\/p>\n

It was a balanced effort on the men\u2019s side in their commanding victory as five players finished in double digits, with first-year guard Birch Pockar leading the team with a game -high and career-high 14 points.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

Cairo Perry made his mark at his first Paint the Meridian Red game for the Brock Badgers on Saturday, Jan. 31.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was amazing \u2014 absolute energy \u2014 and I love moments like this. I can\u2019t wait to do it again next year,\u201d said fellow first-year guard Cairo Perry. \u201cSeeing I can influence the next generation is awesome because I\u2019ve watched games with college players and it\u2019s cool to see this come full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Badgers outrebounded their opponents in the contest by 10 and controlled the game from start to finish as they stormed out to a 27-15 lead they would never relinquish.<\/p>\n

With the victory, the men\u2019s team maintain the top spot in the OUA Central Division with a 14-4 regular season record. They will also head to Ottawa to take on the Gee-Gees and Ravens on Saturday, Feb. 7 and Sunday, Feb. 8.<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s team moved to 4-4 all-time at Paint the Meridian Red, while the men improved their record at the event to 5-3.<\/p>\n

Combined with ticket sales from the Steel Blade Classic hockey game<\/a> held in September, $1,006 was raised to support the Brock University Students\u2019 Union Food First Program \u2014 an initiative addressing food insecurity among students.<\/p>\n

\"Two

Paint the Meridian ticket sales saw $395 donated to the Brock University Students\u2019 Union Food First Program. Combined with ticket sales from the Steel Blade Classic hockey game held in September, $1,006 has been raised for the student food security initiative.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The roar of the crowd echoed throughout the Meridian Centre\u00a0on Saturday, Jan. 31\u00a0as the Brock Badgers men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball teams\u00a0faced off against the McMaster Marauders in a thrilling doubleheader matchup.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":107397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9794,3319,1,58],"tags":[11845,255,4819,694],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107393"}],"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=107393"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107403,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107393\/revisions\/107403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}