Saint Joseph’s junior forward Pierfrancesco Oliva goes up for a shot against Wake Forest in November 2018 at the HTC Center in Conway during the inaugural Myrtle Beach Invitational. Josh Bell jbell@thesunnews.com

CONWAY

The inaugural Myrtle Beach Invitational college basketball tournament tipped off Thursday at Coastal Carolina University’s HTC Center.

The event features eight teams highlighted by West Virginia and Wake Forest, and 12 games being played Thursday, Friday and Sunday. All of the games are being televised on an ESPN network or website, and the tournament is sold out of spectator tickets, though some may be available on the event’s official online ticket exchange powered by Primesport.

The championship game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sunday and will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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The 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational will be held next Nov. 21-24, and the field was released Thursday. It is highlighted by Villanova, which has won two national championships in the last three seasons.

The other seven teams in 2019 are Coastal Carolina, Baylor, Memphis, Mississippi State, Utah, Middle Tennessee and Ohio.

The 2018 Schedule

Thursday
Game 1 - Saint Joseph’s 89, Wake Forest 69
Game 2 - Central Florida 68, Cal State Fullerton 52
Game 3 - Valparaiso vs. Western Kentucky, 5 p.m. ESPNU
Game 4 - Monmouth vs. West Virginia, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Friday
Game 5 - Wake Forest vs. Cal State Fullerton, 11 a.m., ESPN2/ESPNU

Game 6 - Saint Joseph’s vs. Central Florida, 1 or 1:30 p.m., ESPN2/ESPNU

Game 7 - Valpo/WKU loser vs. Monmouth/West Virginia loser, 6:30 p.m., ESPN3

Game 8 - Valpo/WKU winner vs. Monmouth/West Virginia winner 9 p.m., ESPNU

Sunday
Game 9 - Game 5 and Game 7 winners, 10:30 a.m., ESPNU

Game 10 - Game 5 and Game 7 losers, 12:30 p.m., ESPN3

Game 11 - Game 6 and Game 8 losers, 4 p.m., ESPNU

Game 12, Championship - Game 6 and Game 8 winners, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2

This story was originally published November 15, 2018 3:59 PM.