Radford's Matt Lukins puts up a shot over a Honokaa defender in the 2017 Alegre Invitational. CJ Caraang | SL

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The 20th Annual James Alegre Invitational gets underway at Radford High School Wednesday afternoon.

Headlining the eight-team field is defending Division I state champion Punahou, along with reigning league champions Kalaheo, of the Oahu Interscholastic Association and Lahainaluna, of the Maui Interscholastic League. The rest of the field is made up of Mid-Pacific, Moanalua, Leilehua, Honokaa and host Radford.

After several years of utilizing pre-determined match-ups for the three-day tournament, the format will return to a bracketed one this year.

"We've been doing it by match-up, which was working out very well, but for the 20th annual we wanted to go back and have a champion," Tournament Director David Lane said.

Lane, who spent six years as girls varsity coach and another seven as an assistant on the boys' side between the JV and varsity, has been involved with the tournament since its second year of existence.

"That was my first year at Radford," Lane recalled. "We had coach (Alegre) with us through I think '06, so he was at a few of them and he was there when we changed the name of the gym for him, so it's real meaningful to be able to honor him."

Alegre, who was often referred to as "Gentleman Jim" for his kind demeanor, won more than 600 games over the course of his 34 years of coaching and teaching at Radford. Alegre's teams accounted for 11 OIA Western Division titles, nine OIA crowns and four state championships. The gymnasium at the school is named in his honor.

Current Rams' coach Travis Armstrong, now in his third season leading the program, said Alegre remains a "huge influence" on the program.

"The traditions that he's built, they're still in the hallways of the school and still built within the athletic department in general, not just the basketball program, it's infused in the whole athletics department," Armstrong said. "A lot of the things that were his expectations are the Radford athletics' expectations, along with him and coach (John) Velasco. It's good to have those traditions and the culture that they built here still being built upon and still preached upon new coaches."

Lane said the importance of the annual tournament to the school and surrounding community goes two-folds.

"Our mantra for our school is ‘Discipline, Respect and Responsibility,' and that's something that coach Alegre always embodied," Lane said. "I always put on Facebook that next to my dad, he's the greatest man I ever knew."

Lane looks back fondly on the one season that he and Alegre coached together on the boys JV level.

"He was retired and we were both assistants, that's how I got to know him," Lane said. "He just was able to make you feel special, he had a real knack for that. There are still a few of us at the school that got to work with him and got to know him real well, so it's an honor to put this on every year."

Alegre, who was born and raised on the Big Island graduated from Honokaa, will be honored by his alma mater by being inducted into the school's Hall of Fame. Lane said that Dragons coach Jamie Carvalho will be presenting a plaque to Alegre's widow, Marsha, in a ceremony preceding Wednesday's 6 p.m. game between Honokaa and Radford.

"They're going to present a plaque to her before the game and then there will be another plaque at the Honokaa gym, up on the wall there," Lane said.

The tournament gets underway at 3 p.m. Wednesday with Lahainaluna taking on Kalaheo, followed by Punahou meeting Leilehua at 4:30 p.m. The nightcap features Mid-Pacific and Moanalua at 7:30 p.m. The schedule continues with four more games Thursday and wraps up Friday, with the championship game set for 7:30 p.m.

20th Annual James Alegre Invitational
At Jim Alegre Gymnasium, Radford HS
Wednesday
Game 1: Lahainaluna vs. Kalaheo, 3 p.m.
Game 2: Punahou vs. Leilehua, 4:30 p.m.
Game 3: Honokaa vs. Radford, 6 p.m.
Game 4: Mid-Pacific vs. Moanalua, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Game 5: Mid-Pacific—Moanalua loser vs. Honokaa-Radford loser, 3 p.m.
Game 6: Punahou-Leilehua loser vs. Lahainaluna-Kalaheo loser, 4:30 p.m.
Game 7: Punahou-Leilehua winner vs. Lahainaluna-Kalaheo winner, 6 p.m.
Game 8: Mid-Pacific—Moanalua winner vs. Honokaa-Radford winner, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 9: G5 loser vs. G6 loser, 3 p.m.
Game 10: G5 winner vs. G6 winner, 4:30 p.m.
Game 11: G8 loser vs. G7 loser, 6 p.m.
Game 12: G8 winner vs. G7 winner, 7:30 p.m.