The San Francisco Rockdogs won their third straight National Tournament, capturing the 2009 Coady Classic held this past weekend at the UIC Gymnaisum in Chicago, Illinois.

Behind strong play from Jamel Lewis, Windell Austin, Mike Survillion, and Pete Hannibal, the Rockdogs went through their five  tournament matches without being defeated.  The RDs rolled through pool play on Saturday, downing the Chicago Siren, Chicago Sofo, and the Long Beach Rebels on the first day.  They met the Atlanta Tojans in the semis and would go on to defeat them handily.

In the finals, the Rockdogs would go up against Chicago SOFO again.  This time around, it  would be a depleted Chicago SOFO team as they lost two of their big men in earlier competition.  SOFO lost NGBA legend Gregory Torrence to a broken tibia on the first day of action.  They would then lose #8 (sorry, don't know his name), whom was lost when he bumped heads with another player in their semis against the Long Beach Rebels.

Without two of their big men, Sofo was completely undersized. A.J. was left alone to fend for himself down in the trenches against the continued onslaught from 6-9  Rockdog center Windell Austin and 6-5 Peter Hannibal, as well as perimeter players Jamel Lewis, Mikey Survillion, and Simon Griffin.  It wasn't enough as the Rockdogs pulled ahead early, and would never look back.  They went on to defeat SOFO 74-50.

The 2009 Chicago roster featured only eight players this tournament: Windell Austin, Simon Griffin, Peter Hannibal, Chris Johnson, Stuart Leung, Jamel Lewis, Demarco Majors, and Mikey Survillion.

Including Chicago 2009, the San Francisco Rockdogs have now accumulated a 57-1 record over the last three years. Of the last 11 NGBA tournaments, they've won 10 of those tourneys.  The 2009 Coady Classic is the one-year anniversary of the tournament featured in the Rockdog documentary "Shirts & Skins" that was featured on LOGO.

The Maryland Mavericks captured the B division title, which featured a record 22 teams this year, by blowing out the Chicago Spin in the finale.  For more information, please check out SFGBA.com and NGBAus.com