{"id":62148,"date":"2019-11-18T16:03:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T21:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=62148"},"modified":"2019-11-21T16:15:45","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T21:15:45","slug":"badgers-basketball-teams-to-paint-the-meridian-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2019\/11\/badgers-basketball-teams-to-paint-the-meridian-red\/","title":{"rendered":"Badgers basketball teams to Paint the Meridian Red"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brock Badgers are primed to take over Niagara\u2019s largest arena with edge-of-your-seat basketball and an energetic fan experience.<\/p>\n

The women’s and men’s basketball teams will host a Paint the Meridian Red doubleheader versus the Toronto Varsity Blues at the Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines on Saturday, Jan. 11. The women’s game will tip off at 6 p.m. with the men to follow at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

First-year men\u2019s basketball head coach Willy Manigat said he\u2019s excited to have his team compete on such a large stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for us to promote the sport of basketball in the Niagara community,\u201d said Manigat. \u201cAs I\u2019ve said many times, this region has so much basketball potential and I hope to be a big part of that growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets for the doubleheader are now on sale on Ticketmaster<\/a>\u00a0with prices set at $15 for adults and $10 for students, seniors, and kids 12 and under. Limited courtside seats are available for $25.<\/p>\n

Basketball in the province has exploded to more than 50,000 players, coaches and administrators, according to Ontario Basketball, and Manigat said he anticipates to see the next generation of university basketball players to be in the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember that for myself it was games like this that made me want to take basketball seriously. The game of basketball is at an all-time high and the great thing is that it continues to grow,\u201d he said. \u201cThis upcoming doubleheader will present to younger basketball players of Niagara another opportunity to see that U SPORTS basketball is extremely competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brock women\u2019s head coach Mike Rao said this game is a special moment for his players.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor most young players, playing at the Meridian Centre is a chance of a lifetime,\u201d said Rao. \u201cThis is especially true for our local players. The chance to play and shine in front of your family and friends is an awesome experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s team features two Niagara-born newcomers \u2014 Sam Keltos of St. Catharines and Destiny Paquin of Welland \u2014 who have yet to play at the Meridian Centre, but can\u2019t wait to hit the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t experienced a game like this before, but I\u2019m very excited for it,\u201d said Keltos, who graduated from Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School. \u201cBig events like this makes people passionate about the game. It gives people something to look forward to and rallies everyone together to come and support the University.\u201d<\/p>\n

For every student ticket sold, $1 will be donated to the Brock University Students\u2019 Union Food First Program, an on-campus food bank supporting undergraduate and graduate students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Brock Badgers are primed to take over Niagara\u2019s largest arena with edge-of-your-seat basketball and an energetic fan experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":54480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,4,58],"tags":[256,2726,3331],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62148"}],"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\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62148"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62280,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62148\/revisions\/62280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}