Dec. 5, 2010

Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham University - St. John's University men's basketball game on Saturday, December 11th will be televised live on the YES Network from Fordham's historic Rose Hill Gymnasium in the Bronx. Airtime on YES is 7:00 PM. Fordham alum Ryan Ruocco will deliver the play-by-play and Jim Spanarkel will handle the color commentary.

The game matches a pair of successful coaches in their first year at the helm of the two Big Apple universities: Fordham's Tom Pecora and St. John's Steve Lavin. The match up of two New York City rivals is already a complete sellout.

Saturday will mark the first appearance for St. John's in the Rose Hill Gym since December 20, 1995, a 66-47 Red Storm win. The two teams have met six times since then, including last year at Alumni Hall.

Each team will have a game this week before the weekend matchup. Fordham hosts Manhattan on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. in the Rose Hill Gym in the annual Battle of the Bronx while St. John's entertains St. Bonaventure in Alumni Hall on Tuesday night.

About the Broadcasters...

Twenty four-year-old Ruocco is a 2008 Fordham alum who honed his skills at WFUV Radio, where he received the prestigious Marty Glickman Award for play by play excellence as a senior. The Fishkill, NY native hosts two hour long programs - The Lead Off Spot (5:00 am) and The Second Verse, (10:00 am) weekdays on 1050 AM ESPN Radio in New York. He has handled the radio play-by-play for the National Invitation Tournament basketball games and for the CBS College Sports Network. During the Major League Baseball season, Ruocco is an in-booth statistician for YES' telecasts of New York Yankees home games, and also hosts in-stadium video presentations for the Yankees. Ruocco is another in the long line of Fordham/WFUV products in sports broadcasting which starts with the legendary Voice of the Dodgers Vin Scully, YES Network's Yankees voice Michael Kay, and play-by-players Mike Breen (Knicks), Bob Papa (Giants), Chris Carrino (Nets), Spero Dedes (Lakers) and Charlie Slowes (Nationals).

Spanarkel, originally from Jersey City, NJ, has been the Nets television color analyst for 19 seasons. He is also a CBS Sports analyst on the network's men's basketball regular season and NCAA tournament coverage. While playing basketball at Duke, he earned All-American honors in 1979, was team MVP his final three seasons, and was team captain his last two seasons. He was named East Regional Most Outstanding Player in the 1978 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and graduated from Duke in 1979. He played professionally for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Dallas Mavericks. His son, Andrew, is a freshman wide receiver on the Fordham football team.