On the heels of winning a regional Emmy, JRM Video Productions to make 'live' basketball debut with Steel City High School Hoops series

A local production company recently won a regional Emmy for its WPIAL football coverage.

That team is now trying to build on that momentum by broadcasting WPIAL basketball live for the first time.

High school basketball will hit the prime time on SportsNet Pittsburgh when Steel City High School Hoops tips off Jan. 7 with a highly anticipated matchup of defending WPIAL champions when Upper St. Clair hosts Imani Christian at 7:30 p.m.

SportsNet Pittsburgh will broadcast the 10 Steel City High School Hoops games from Jan. 7-Feb. 7. Seven will be aired live, and the others will be available on tape delay.

Steel City High School Hoops is being produced by JRM Video Productions, which also produced the Steel City High School Football Showcase the past two seasons. This past season’s games were broadcast live on KDKA+. In September, JRM was awarded a Mid-Atlantic Emmy in the Live Sporting Event/Game category for its work on the Showcase in 2023.

JRM has experience broadcasting high school basketball, having produced last year’s City League basketball championships and the recent Pittsburgh Holiday Hoops Classic. All of those games were shown on tape delay. JRM’s founder and owner, Jake Mysliwczyk, and his team hoped to take things a step further this time around.

“A lot of it is on [JRM’s] Matt [Farago]. He pushed this a lot,” said Mysliwczyk, a 2017 Baldwin High School graduate. “He had the vision to make it happen and bring it to life on TV. We’re trying to do what we did with football, and we figured this is the year to do it.”

Mysliwczyk said that Farago will handle play-by-play duties for the games. Central Catholic graduate and Pitt football standout Johnny Petrishen will do color commentary for some of the games with a guest commentator filling in occasionally, as well.

Full schedule

Jan. 7 — Imani Christian at Upper St. Clair boys

Jan. 10 — Woodland Hills at Seneca Valley boys

Jan. 17 — Neshannock at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart boys

Jan. 21 — Peters Township at Baldwin girls

Jan. 21 — Peters Township at Baldwin boys

Jan. 25 — Baldwin vs. North Hills (PBC Hall of Fame Classic at North Hills)**

Jan. 25 — Knoch vs. Belle Vernon (PBC Hall of Fame Classic at North Hills)**

Jan. 25 — Penn Hills vs. Aliquippa (PBC Hall of Fame Classic at North Hills)**

Jan. 28 — North Hills at Pine-Richland boys

Feb. 3 — South Fayette at Chartiers Valley girls

Feb. 3 — Blackhawk at Chartiers Valley boys