It’s a little wet in here: Roof leak causes hour-plus delay in C-USA title game

College basketball skilled its personal model of a rain delay on Saturday.

The Convention USA males’s basketball convention championship sport between Jacksonville State and Liberty was delayed because of a leak within the ceiling of the roof at Von Braun Middle. It is believed that the leak was attributable to storms within the Huntsville, Alabama, space on Saturday, pushing again the 8:30 p.m. ET tip to 9:36 p.m. ET.

Water fell from the roof of the ceiling onto the court docket close to the scorer’s desk throughout warmups. Initially, towels had been used to assist clear up the mess on the court docket earlier than stadium staff wiped the residue off.

However there was nonetheless water leaking from the ceiling properly after the sport was supposed to start. Different enviornment staff made their manner up the rafters on the Von Braun Middle, inserting a number of tarps below the realm of the leak, based on reporters on website. 

The choice to delay the beginning of Saturday’s sport got here moments earlier than tip-off, with gamers on every crew lining as much as get the sport going. Jacksonville State head coach Ray Harper was the primary to level out that water was falling from the ceiling, notifying the officers as liquid continued to fall each 30 seconds, according to AL.com.

The C-USA title sport is clearly one among significance. Along with profitable the convention crown, the winner will go to the NCAA Match whereas the loser will nearly definitely see its March Insanity desires finish. 

Liberty, who gained the C-USA regular-season title and is 27-6 coming into Saturday, is searching for to win its seventh convention match in program historical past, however its first convention match since turning into a C-USA member within the 2023-24 season. It final made the NCAA Match in 2021.

Jacksonville State, in the meantime, completed second in convention play throughout the common season and enters the championship sport with a 22-11 file. It is also searching for its first convention match title since becoming a member of C-USA within the 2023-24 season. It is gained two convention tournaments on the Division I degree, final claiming the Atlantic Solar Match in 2022 to make the NCAA Match.

Liberty was slated to be a No. 13 seed and the only consultant of C-USA in Michael DeCourcy’s most recent bracket projection.

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