VALLEY CITY, N.D. (vcsuvikings.com) – The Barnes County Athletic Association and Valley City State University have announced changes to the annual Boys Basketball Barnes County Tournament in January.

Instead of playing a three-day tournament in mid January at VCSU’s W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse, the participating teams will schedule and play three regular season games that week at participating schools. The games will be non-tournament contests with all opponents and locations determined ahead of time. The games are scheduled for Jan. 11, 12 and 14.

Events on VCSU’s campus are currently restricted to 150 people, based on the current recommendations from the ND Smart Restart Guidelines. Those attendance restrictions, the use of the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse as a community testing and vaccination site, and VCSU athletics schedule changes due to COVID-19 were all factors in the decision to change this year’s event to a non-tournament format at different locations.

This is the first time since 1917 that the boys tournament will not crown a tournament champion.

2021 Boys Barnes County Tournament Schedule (all games played at school sites)
January 11
Warwick at Enderlin
Barnes County North at Maple Valley
LaMoure/Litchville-Marion at Wyndmere-Lidgerwood
Sargent County at Finley-Sharon/Hope-Page

January 12
White Shield at Enderlin
Finley-Sharon/Hope-Page at LaMoure/Litchville-Marion
Barnes County North at Sargent County
Wyndmere-Lidgerwood at Maple Valley

January 14
LaMoure at Enderlin
Finley-Sharon/Hope-Page at Barnes County North
Warwick at Maple Valley
Sargent County at Wyndmere-Lidgerwood