This will be the 14th season of The Yarnell Invitational (named after Yarnell Ice Cream in Searcy, AR). As always, it'll be a 6 team round-robin tournament that'll occur in weeks 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Harding University will be the tournament host. The defending champ from the previous year is an automatic qualifier. The remainder of the field is invitation only based on alblack's dynasty rankings. Link to latest and greatest is at:

http://bit.ly/yMmpYZ

IF YOU ARE AT OR CLOSE TO THE TOP OF THE DYNASTY RANKINGS AND INTERESTED IN PLAYING IN THIS TOURNAMENT, KEEP NON-CONF GAME #'s 5 THROUGH 9 OPEN UNTIL NOTICE THIS TOURNAMENT IS FULL.

Formal Invitations will be sent out sometime after job application period is over, but you can reply now if you plan to play in this tournament.

FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
Game #5: DC @ Host, #2 @ #1, #4 @ #3
Game #6: Host @ #4, #1 @ DC, #2 @ #3
Game #7: #3 @ Host, #1 @ #4, DC @ #2
Game #8: Host @ #2, #3 @ #1, #4 @ DC
Game #9: #1 @ Host, #2 @ #4, #3 @ DC

Invitations being sent out to the following qualifiers:
Northeastern St [Lonestar] defending champ
Longwood [CVAC]
Bowie State [CIAA]
New Jersey Tech [CACC]
Bellarmine [GLV]

Next in line should someone not accept invitation are:
Gannon [GLIAC]
N Florida [Peach Belt]
Armstrong Athletic [Peach Belt]

Bellarmine and NJ Tech are in.

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Bowie St accepted as well, so schedule is set:

FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
Game #5: Northeastern St @ Harding, Bowie St @ Longwood, Bellarmine @ NJ Tech
Game #6: Harding @ Bellarmine, Longwood @ Northeastern St, Bowie St @ NJ Tech
Game #7: NJ Tech @ Harding, Longwood @ Bellarmine, Northeastern St @ Bowie St
Game #8: Harding @ Bowie St, NJ Tech @ Longwood, Bellarmine @ Northeastern St
Game #9: Longwood @ Harding, Bowie St @ Bellarmine, NJ Tech @ Northeastern St

Welcome to Yarnell 56. 2 things stand out coming into this season's tournament. One. Last season's national championship game was a rematch of the Yarnell championship game. Longwood took Bowie St to win the Yarnell. Bowie St took the rematch to win the National title. And they are the feature game in round 1 of this year's tournament. Second thing that stands out is the collection of individual talent. 4 of the 5 first-team preseason all americans are here. 8 total preseason all-americans... and four are from Bowie St's starting lineup. You gotta think Bowie St is the team to beat this year. Good luck all.

A couple of other items of note. First time Yarnell winner Bellarmine is back in the tournament. Also we have a first time appearance from New Jersey Tech.

Round 1
#3 Bowie State (4-0) -10 @ Longwood (2-2)
#4 Bellarmine (4-0) -11 @ New Jersey Tech (2-2)
Northeastern St (2-2) +6 @ #11 Harding (3-1)

Yarnell Champions
42 - Bellarmine, greenhawks

Players To Watch:
Martin Covert, PG, Sr. 6'1" 177, Bowie St, 1st team All-American (AA)
Joseph Misner, SG, Sr. 6'1" 178, New Jersey Tech, 1st team AA
Gregory Burnes, PF, Sr/5 6'4" 214, Longwood, 1st team AA
Joseph Stone, C, Sr. 6'10 242, Harding, 1st team AA
Richard Holman, C, Sr. 6'11 237, Bowie St, 3rd team AA
Ralph Birkland, PG, Sr. 5'8 150, New Jersey Tech, Honorable Mention (HM) AA
Arthur Flower, PG, Sr. 6'0 191, Bowie St, HM AA
Micheal Hodges, C, Jr. 6'10 227, Bowie St, HM AA

Home teams 3-0 reign supreme in round 1.

I was surprised by the lack of chatter on the IBA boards coming into this game. Longwood/Bowie St should've been a hot topic. The game lived up to the hype. Longwood won a high octane game at home in the rematch of last year's National/Yarnell championship with Bowie St. M Covert missed a three with 5 seconds left that would've sent the game into OT. Both teams checked their defenses in at the door as this game resembled an NBA all-star game. The turnovers were sloppy the shots were uncontested, and the FTs were plenty. Longwood nailed 33-60 (55%) from field, 3-4 from behind the arc, and 28-42 from the FT line. Preseason all-american G Burnes torched Bowie St's post players for 30 points. Bowie St was 35-67 (52%) from the field, 6-16 from behind the arc, and 18-28 from the line.

The Bellarmine/New Jersey Tech game was the polar opposite. Defense, defense, and more defense. NJ Tech hung onto a hard fought one point win as Bellarmine's J Caggiano's half court shot sailed long at the buzzer. NJ Tech build a 7 point halftime lead on efficiency. Bellarmine limited them to only 19 shots, but Tech made 8 of them and 12-13 from FT line. Meanwhile Bellarmine couldn't throw it in the ocean but hung in the game on quantity of shots. NJ Tech hit a 3 to go up 10 early in the 2nd half but watched as Bellarmine chipped away over the next 8 minutes and went on a slow 15-3 run to take a 2 point lead. The teams traded baskets until 5 min left where Bellarmine hit a couple of baskets to go up 50-46 with 4:40 left. They continued to trade baskets and Bellarmine hung onto this cushion until R Birkland hit a 3 for NJT with 1:20 left to tie the game at 57. A couple of stops and FTs pushed the run to a 7 point run and 4 point lead with 11 seconds left. J Caggiano nailed a 3 with 6 sec left for the final margin. Missed FTs by R Golden setup the final heave by Caggiano.

J Stone and J Applegate each recorded double doubles and helped to hold off a late NE State rally to lead Harding to an 81-73 win. Harding led 65-49 with 5 min to play and Northeastern St went into their end-game settings to extend the game. At first it wasn't working as Harding led 75-61 was 1:27 left. Then it began to pay off and they got as close as 77-71 with :13 left. But Harding made their last 4 FTs to hold them off.

Standings
Harding 1-0
Longwood 1-0
New Jersey Tech 1-0
Bellarmine 0-1
Bowie St 0-1
Northeastern St 0-1

Round 2
#6 Bowie State (4-1) -4 @ New Jersey Tech (3-2)
#9 Harding (4-1) -1 @ #7 Bellarmine (4-1)
#23 Longwood (3-2) -4 @ Northeastern St (2-3)

Round 1 Results
@Longwood 97, Bowie State 94
L: G Burnes 30 (POG), A Brown 18, L Norris 13/9R, S Alexander 13
BS: M Covert 18, H Weisenberger 15, M Hodges 13, A Flower 11/8A

@New Jersey Tech 61, Bellarmine 60
NJT: J Misner 23 (POG), R Birkland 15, R Golden 12
BK: J Caggiano 15, M Wilkinson 12

@Harding 81, Northeastern St 73
H: J Stone 16/11R (POG), J Applegate 12/11R, D Fisher 14
NS: M Wojnowski 15, D Flint 11, M Humphrey 10/9R, H Nelson 10

Bowie State is a conversation suppressant.  And clearly we don't do that well when we're declared frontrunners.  Great game between bbunch and I.

Posted by baseballer77 on 3/20/2012 12:20:00 PM (view original):
Bowie State is a conversation suppressant.  And clearly we don't do that well when we're declared frontrunners.  Great game between bbunch and I.

Looking at Bowie's powerful lineup is also an appetite suppressant

Bowie State and their all-american lineup found themselves in a second consecutive battle on the road. Down 51-49 with 12:27 to play they went into lockdown defense mode and didn't allow a NJ Tech basket over the next 6 minutes and built a 58-51 lead. When Tech finally got a bucket, A Flower demoralized them with a 3-pointer to put Bowie State up 61-53 with 6:05 to play. Tech would wake up and get within 3 on a couple occasions the last being 82-79 with 20 sec left on a J Nowacki 3-pointer. But Bowie converted a FT got a stop and a basket to push the lead back to their advantage. A three by R Golden with 3 sec left would get Tech back within 3 points but it was too late. Bowie St converted 2 more FTs for the final margin. A Flower earned POG as he guided a team-effort and J Misner and R Birkland were game-high scorers for NJ Tech with 24 and 20 respectively.

Harding converted 4 3-point plays on consecutive possessions and took control to win on the road at Bellarmine. Harding had led the majority of the game but couldn't pull away and found themselves tied at 44 when K Strode of Bellarmine drilled a fadeaway with 6:53 remaining. Thus began the run of 3's, the easy way and the hard way. R Satterfield drilled a 3 with 6:42 left to put Harding up 3. B England jammed it and converted the and-one with 6:03 left to go up 5. D Fisher nailed a 3 from the corner with 5:43 left to go up 6. Then H Davis converted a layup and the and-one to put Harding up 8 56-47 with 4:39 left. Harding was never threatened after then. Four Harding players finished in double-figures and helped pace them to 5-7 from behind the arc and 12-14 from the FT line in the 2nd half. J Caggiano was the lone bright spot for Bellarmine going 5-9 from downtown and finished with a game-high 19.

Longwood travelled to Tahlequah, OK and found themselves down 39-32 at the half to Northeastern St. Northeastern created turnovers and converted 3 of those into points to build their lead. They would lead the entire 2nd half with Longwood getting as close as one-point with 10:25 to play, but NE State would push the lead back over the next 3 minutes and not be threatened again. M Humphrey earned player of the game despite picking up 4 fouls with 15 points and 8 rebounds. L Norris put up 20 points and 9 rebounds in a losing effort.

Standings
Harding 2-0
Northeastern St 1-1
Longwood 1-1
Bowie St 1-1
New Jersey Tech 1-1
Bellarmine 0-2

Round 3
Northeastern St (3-3) +9 @ #5 Bowie State (5-1)
New Jersey Tech (3-3) +7 @ #6 Harding (5-1)
Longwood (3-3) +2 @ #13 Bellarmine (4-2)

Round 2 Results
Bowie State 87, @New Jersey Tech 82
BS: A Flower 17 (POG), M Covert 16, R Holman 15, M Hodges 12, H Weisenberger 10
NJT: J Misner 24 (POG), R Birkland 20, R Golden 11

Harding 72, @Bellarmine 59
H: B England 15 (POG), D Fisher 14, R Satterfield 10, J Applegate 10
BK: J Caggiano 19

@Northeastern St 82, Longwood 76
NS: M Humphrey 15 (POG), D Flint 14, H Nelson 13, A Ray 11
L: L Norris 20/9R, G Burnes 9

The RNG was kind to Bowie State on the road late in each half last night...In the last 5 mins of the first half they shot 8-10 from the field and 3-3 from downtown.  In the last 7 mins of the 2nd half they were 10-14 and 2-2 for a total of 18-24 and 5-5 over that 12 min stretch of the game. 

Over the other 28 minutes they were 14-40 and 1-11.

If my team wasn't so young I'd be more frustrated at our inability to finish a game like this one.

Check out Harding!  All those big men have you looking good so far.
(yes, that was the kiss of death)

Got down to last game in composing summaries this morning and my power went out and I lost everything. Major suckage.

Bowie State raced to a 25-10 lead over the first 10 minutes of the game vs Northeastern St and never looked back. That lead would be pushed to 49-32 at the half. Bowie State would empty their bench in the 2nd half and cruise to a 25 point win. Bowie shot 51% from the field, 42% from behind the arc, and 73% from the line and also dominate assists 21-10 and turnovers 22-12. M Covert earned POG honors. H Nelson and D Flint each had 13 for Northeastern St but 8 turnovers each.

In a game of athleticism and X's and O's, Harding seized control with a 19-3 run mid-way through the 1st half and hung on for a 4 point win over a scrappy New Jersey Tech. NJ Tech would grab their 1st lead on a R Golden 3-pointer from the right wing at 10-8 with 15:17 left in the 1st half. They grabbed their second lead on a R Golden tip-in of 16-14 at the 12:31 mark. They would not lead again. B England and J Applegate would trigger the 19-3 run over the next 7 minutes to go up 33-19 with 5:30 left in the half. They would lead 38-30 at the half. NJ Tech coach bow2dacowz would channel his inner John Brady and use gimmick defenses in the second half to try to rally his team back. Tech would get as close as 3 within the final 2 minutes using an array of box-and-one's and triangle-and-two's, but Harding hung on with some huge buckets by POG B England and strong inside play of J Stone and J Applegate. NJ Tech's J Misner led all scorers with 25.

The return to the Yarnell has not been a good one for Bellarmine. While they won a clash of tempos, they didn't win the game. Bellarmine slowed the game to a crawl in the 1st half as the teams played to a 22-22 draw. Longwood used uptempo to attack the Bellarmine press to no avail and Bellarmine grabbed a lead to start the second half and hung on until midway through the 2nd half when Longwood's chipping away finally started having success. After scoring only 30 points over the game's first 28 minutes, Longwood would score 26 over the game's final 12 minutes and pull away late to win by 7. Longwood would grab a 39-38 lead with 8 minutes to play on FTs by POG B Brooks and not trail again.  

Standings
Harding 3-0
Longwood 2-1
Bowie St 2-1
Northeastern St 1-2
New Jersey Tech 1-2
Bellarmine 0-3

Round 4
#5 Harding (6-1) -1 @ #3 Bowie State (6-1)
#19 Bellarmine (4-3) -4 @ Northeastern St (3-4)
New Jersey Tech (3-4) +1 @ #25 Longwood (4-3)

Round 3 Results
@Bowie State 94, Northeastern St 69
BS: M Covert 16 (POG), H Weisenberger 13, J Robinson 13
NS: H Nelson 13, D Flint 13, M Wojnowski 11, J Finch 10R

@Harding 61, New Jersey Tech 57
H: B England 22 (POG), J Stone 13/11R, J Applegate 9/10R
NJT: J Misner 25, R Birkland 16, R Golden 13

Longwood 56 @Bellarmine 49
L: B Brooks 10/9R (POG), A Brown 12, G Burnes 11
BK: J Caggiano 14, M Wilkinson 11

with only 4 upper-classmen i didn't expect to win any games in the yarnell so im already ahead of the game...but this is almost more frustrating than getting blown out like i was expecting.  losing to IW pre-yarnell, and then bowie and harding by 6,5, and 4 with chances to win all 3 is gut-wrenching

Tied at 79 and the shot clock turned off, Bowie State's M Covart dribbled at the top of the key until the game clock dropped under 10 sec, dribbled right, then cross-overed to the left and drilled a shot with 3 seconds left for the win. If you were watching this game on tv, you probably missed the ending. Rapper Wale placed a bounty on one of the Harding big guys. J Stone would be too obvious, so the focus was J Applegate. Applegate would foul out and play only 8 min. Without Applegate and with a protected M Covert, Bowie State built an 18-point lead 45-27 with 2:51 left in 1st half. Everyone at home changed the channel to Swamp People. They missed a great game. Harding closed on a 9-4 run to cut it to 49-36 at the half, but you could sense a momemtum shift. With no Applegate and preseason all-american J Stone limited by his absense, Harding rallied back with a savy PG and their bench. A key 10-2 run cut the lead down to 1 with 7:39 remaining. Harding would tie the game 4 times down the stretch, the last on a pair of FTs by B England with 52 seconds left. A Flower, with a REB rating of 10, would rebound his own miss with 31 seconds left and pass out to M Covert to setup the last shot.

Game 2 of Round 4 came down to the last shot, but the home fans didn't rush the floor in this game. Like Bowie State, NE State led the entire game but couldn't quite shake Bellarmine. The 7-point halftime lead would be their biggest lead of the 2nd half and they held that lead with 8 min left. Bellarmine would whiddle that down and actually grab a 50-49 lead with 3:28 left. NE State high-scorer M Wojnowski would put them back up in front with an and-one and later hit the front end of 2 FTs with 41 seconds left to put them up 58-55. But Bellarmine worked it inside to J Caldwell (13pts/9reb) and he got an and-one of his own to tie the game with 25 seconds left. M Wojnowski would try to do it again and made a bad pass and turnover with 22 seconds left. With his head in the wrong place, Wojnowski made a frustration foul with four seconds left and POG J Caggiano calmly made both FTs for the 2-point win.

Player of the game G Burnes powered Longwood to a win at home over New Jersey Tech. Burnes finished with 16 points on 7-12 shooting. NJ Tech tried several bodies on him as starter P Robertson fouled out playing only 11 minutes. Total contrast in styles in that Longwood worked the ball quick against the NJ Tech gimmick zone and took the first free shot inside the arc. NJ Tech countered with a slow deliberate flex against Longwood's extended man-to-man that culminated in R Birkland or R Golden jacking a 3 as the shot clock expired. They'd go a combined 11-32 from behind the arc. Longwood would quickly extend their 2 point halftime lead to 16 over the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half. The lead was 19 (60-41) with 6:23 left when the home crowd hit the exits. With an empty gym, NJ Tech made a run that got everyone in their car listening to the radio a little nervous. A pair of D Oakman FTs with 1:04 left completed a 17-3 run to get within 63-58. But G Burnes canned the dagger over a doubleteam with 40 seconds left and that was it.

Standings
Longwood 3-1
Bowie St 3-1
Harding 3-1
New Jersey Tech 1-3
Bellarmine 1-3
Northeastern St 1-3

Round 5
#2 Bowie State (7-1) -5 @ #20 Bellarmine (5-3)
#22 Longwood (5-3) +2 @ #9 Harding (6-2)
New Jersey Tech (3-5) Pk @ Northeastern State (3-5)

Round 4 Results
@Bowie State 81, Harding 79
BS: M Covert 26 (POG), M Hodges 11, A Flower
H: D Fisher 12, C Rozell 12, B England 11, J Stone 10, L Dickerson 10

Bellarmine 60, @Northeastern St 58
BK: J Caggiano 17 (POG), J Caldwell 13/9R
NS: M Wojnowski 14, J Finch 11

@Longwood 68, New Jersey Tech 60
L: G Burnes 16 (POG), A Brown 14, R Maillet 11/7A, B Brooks 12R
NJT: R Birkland 23, J Misner 15, R Golden 12