COX Sports Television Airs SRU Men’s Basketball

By: Anne Falcetano
Posted In: Sports

NEWPORT, R.I. – On Thursday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. Salve Regina’s men’s basketball team played for more than packed stands, they played for the COX Sports Television audience. The game versus Seahawk rival Roger Williams University, which was taped and then aired the following night on CST, is the first time that an athletic event in Salve’s Rodgers Recreation Center has been broadcast on television.

The last Salve sporting event to go out over the air was a 1998 Seahawk football game at Worcester State College.

The stands were packed as per usual for the men’s basketball team but for this particular game special accommodations were made for COX television. According the Ed Habershaw, Salve Sports Information Director, these accommodations included special parking, scaffolding for the two cameras perched behind the scoring table, and additional student help along with other minor adjustments. Additionally, the media coverage of the game besides COX was larger for this particular game with a RWU internet broadcast of the game, Newport Daily News writer Rick McGowan and WPRI Channel 12 reporter Pete Lucas covering the event. Besides the added media for the game, the student-run Seahawk Pep Band performed for the third time at a SRU basketball game since debuting in December.

Going into the game the Seahawks had been ranked lower than RWU in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) with RWU’s record at 7-1 in conference play and SRU at 2-4. This did not stop the Seahawks from breaking their small losing streak by beating RWU 56-50. Top scorers for the game were captains Matthew Grendal, senior, with 17 points and Chris Goodridge, junior, with 15 points.

“Playing on TV was a surreal experience and very exciting. I’m glad we came to play and were able to beat our rival, Roger Williams,” said Grendal. “Overall it was a great experience to have and hopefully my teammates will get the chance to play on COX once again.”

The overall feeling of the broadcast from both the players and staff of the Salve Athletic community was that this opportunity brought a sense of excitement to the game. Perhaps, this played a part in motivating the Seahawks to defeat their rivals? Now men’s basketball team looks to the future. “As we move forward out guys are working towards our number one team goal which is putting ourselves into the CCC Tournament,” said Coach Sean Foster. “I believe that we can finish up the year strong behind our seniors Matt Grendal, Jon Hazzard and Jay Pallotti.”

At this point in time there are no more scheduled television broadcasts however, Judd Coderre and Jay Martinage plan to broadcast the remaining home basketball games over the internet. “Of we had our choice, every game would be broadcast”, commented Habershaw. “The COX Sports Television broadcast came at no cost to Salve Regina, with the exception of a few bottles of water for the crew.”