WPRO News

A long delay in Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game between Providence College and Xavier is being blamed on a leak in the roof of the Dunkin Donuts Center.

Play was idled late in the game’s second half as crews spread out with towels in an effort to dry the playing surface.

Unlike a PC game against Seton Hall in 2018 that was halted due to condensation on the floor of the Dunk from the ice surface below, officials blamed this on a leak from standing water on the roof.

“We have engineers coming in today,” said Larry Lepore, General Manager of the Dunkin Donuts Center and the Rhode Island Convention Center in an interview Thursday morning with WPRO’s Gene Valicenti.

“It’s one of two things. It’s either coming in through the roof or there are two or four turbine fans up there for smoke evacuation,” Lepore said.

He added that the 50-year old roof is slated for replacement soon.

“Clearly it’s an issue, and you know, we’re moving as quickly as we can to replace the roof, and we regret, once again, that it happened on national TV,” he said.

“We’re in the process of putting it out to bid. The governor was generous to give us some of the COVID money, and we should be able to address that in the upcoming year. A very expensive project, somewhere between five and seven million dollars,” Lepore said.

The PC Friars went on to win the game against the Xavier Musketeers, 99-92, with crews continuing to mop the floor frequently during the triple-overtime contest.