Rams basketball coach Wally Salata.

The annual Jalene Berger Allstate Holiday Hoops Classic tips off Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the Rams Athletic Center.

The host Rams have been in the championship game eight times in the previous 13 seasons it’s been contested, and won the Classic the last three years it’s taken place – 2018, ’19 and ’21, with the pandemic wiping out the 2020 event.

The tournament originated in 2007 as an idea of then-Rams coach Brian Smith; it was an eight-team event, played in round-robin fashion.

The tournament has had various names and format, although it became the Jalene Berger Allstate Holiday Hoops Classic in 2013; Berger is a longtime local sports proponent and Allstate agent in the City of Vision.

Here are Wednesday’s first round games:

1 p.m.: Hope Christian (5-1) vs. St. Pius X (5-3). Hope has won the tournament four times (2009, ’11, ’13 and ’15).

3 p.m.: Rio Grande (5-3) vs. Santa Fe (4-3). Santa Fe appeared in the championship game last December, falling to the Rams, 48-42.

5 p.m.: Espanola Valley (1-10) vs. Sandia Prep (3-3): EVHS lost the ’15 title tilt to Hope Christian and beat the Rams for the Classic title in ’17.

7 p.m.: Socorro, Texas (8-6) vs. the Rams (5-4): It’s the second year in a row Socorro has been in the tournament.

The losers of the first two games meet Thursday at 1, and the latter two losers tip off Thursday at 3. The first two games’ winners meet Thursday at 5, and the latter two winners square off Thursday at 7.

On Friday, the seventh-place game is at 1, followed by the fifth-place game at 3, the third-place game at 5 and the championship game at 7.

RRHS basketball tournament champs

2007: Round-robin; no champion.

2008: Highland 75, Rio Rancho 61

2009: Hope Christian 60, Eldorado 49 (Ram Division)

2010: El Paso Franklin 48, El Paso Coronado 44

2011: Hope Christian 63, Las Cruces 61 (OT)

2012: Manzano 64, Hope Christian 54

2013: Hope Christian 75, Rio Rancho 61

2014: Rio Rancho 75, Hope Christian 68

2015: Hope Christian 62, Española Valley 32

2016: Oñate 81, Rio Rancho 76

2017: Española Valley72, Rio Rancho 54

2018: Rio Rancho 73, Hope Christian 72

2019: Rio Rancho 61, Highland 58

2020: COVID-19, Rio Rancho 0

2021: Rio Rancho 48, Santa Fe 42