Three major hoops tournaments tip off Thursday

There are three major high school basketball tournaments in the metro area, and they all begin on Thursday.

The state’s top-ranked girls team, defending Class 5A state champion Sandia, is at the Mel Otero Invitational at Rio Rancho High School.

The Matadors play Organ Mountain at 5 p.m. Thursday. Preceding that game is Rio Rancho-Highland at 1 p.m. and two unbeatens, Robertson and Clovis, at 3 p.m. Defending 4A state champion Kirtland Central plays Las Cruces High at 7 p.m.

The semifinals are 1 and 7 p.m. Friday; the final is 3 p.m. Saturday.

The Phil Griego Invite is a boys event at Cleveland High School. Los Lunas and Santa Fe Indian is the first game Thursday, at noon.

That game is followed by Valley-Roswell at 2 p.m., Santa Fe-Highland at 4 p.m., and the host Storm versus Miyamura at 6 p.m.

The semifinals are 5 and 7 p.m. Friday. The championship game is 4 p.m. Saturday.

The latest Joe Armijo Classic at Albuquerque Academy features 24 games over three days.

First-round boys games Thursday are Las Cruces-Atrisco Heritage at 11:30 a.m., Hope Christian-Clovis at 1:15 p.m., Academy-Piedra Vista at 6:30 p.m. and La Cueva-Organ Mountain at 8:15 p.m.

The first two games Thursday are in the girls bracket, with La Cueva-Cleveland at 8 a.m. and Hope-Mayfield at 9:45 a.m. Later in the day, Centennial faces Artesia at 3 p.m., and the host Chargers play Atrisco Heritage at 4:45 p.m.

The girls semis are 3 and 4:45 p.m. Friday, with the boys at 6:30 and 8:15. The girls final is 6:30 p.m. Saturday, with the boys title game at 8:15 p.m.

(The highest profile game of the week is not at a tournament. It is the meeting on Friday night at Volcano Vista between Class 5A's top-ranked Hawks and No. 2 Sandia.)