The 2019 Christian College National Invitational Tournament, in it's eighth season, is set to begin, as eight teams from across the country gather in Oakland City to compete for the championship banner. Schools from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Florida, and Mississippi will face off in the three day event, held in the Johnson Center, on March 7, 8 and 9.
The tournament will begin with the pre-tournament banquet, held on the Oakland City University campus on Wednesday night, with guest speaker Bob Lovell, host of the Indiana Sports Talk radio show, delivering a message to the participants and guests. At the banquet, each team's head coach will be invited to introduce their team and speak to their season up to this point.
On Thursday, March 7, the quarterfinals will kick off with the defending champion Bulldogs of Wilberforce University (Wilberforce, OH) taking on the Phantoms of East-West University (Chicago, IL), at 1:00. The next game, tipping at 3:00, will see the Rhema College Eagles, out of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, square off against the Tigers of Campbellsville University-Harrodsburg (Harrodsburg, KY). Game three will feature the Suns of Johnson University-Florida (Kissimmee, FL) against the Campbellsville University-Somerset Tigers, from Somerset, Kentucky, at 5:00, followed by the 7:00 contest between the Oakland City University Mighty Oaks (Oakland City, IN) against the Southeastern Baptist College Chargers (Laurel, MS).
Friday, March 8, will see the semifinals, with the consolation bracket games starting at 1:00 and 3:00, and the championship bracket tipping off at 5:00 and 7:00. The seventh place game will be held on Saturday, March 9, at 1:00, followed by the fifth place game at 3:00. At 5:00, two teams will meet for third place, with the championship game scheduled to tip off at 7:00.
Previous winner of the tournament include Oakland City University (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015), Morthland College (2016), Southwestern Adventist University (2017), and Wilberforce University (2018).
Tickets for the tournament may be purchased at the door for $12.00 per day, or advance tournament tickets are on sale until tip off of the first game, and are $30.00 for admission to all 12 contests.
Complete tournament information may be found by going to the CCNIT webpage
here.
