With the help of two former Saluki athletic standouts, Soldiers was able to capture the championship in the 14th Annual Schick’s Super Hoops 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament Friday night at the Recreation Center.

Former Saluki football player C.J. McDavid and high jumper Rodney White teamed up with Jody MacPhearson and Jamel Jackson to defeat No Fear 31-22. No Fear consisted of Jason Leers, Ryan Coleman and Shane Kirchoff.

Soldiers steamrolled through the 25-team field, winning its four games by an average of 11 points.

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The turnout for the women’s side was not as impressive. Only three teams showed up Saturday to compete. Intramural Sports graduate assistant Tracy Applebee said the tournament was still a success, despite low participation.

The women’s side did not turn out as expected, Applebee said, but we still got more teams than last year.

The tournament takes place on 550 colleges and universities nationwide and draws nearly 200,00 participants.

Jackson, a senior in accounting from Chicago, said the athletic ability of White and McDavid turned out to be the determining factor.

The competition was good, but basically we outrebounded them and played better defense, Jackson said. They applied their athletic ability Rod’s jumping ability and C.J.’s power on the inside.

Unfortunately, Jackson was unable to compete in the title game because of a prior engagement. But the Soldiers were still able to overcome a one-point halftime deficit for the nine-point victory. Tournament games were played in two eight-minute halves.

MacPhearson credited his team’s strong sense of each other’s capabilities in overcoming the loss of one of its players.

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The four different personalities kind of blended together, said McPhearson, a junior in psychology from Houston. C.J. is the more physical player and Rod is flashy-type guy. I, myself, am more of a slasher, and Jamel does the grunt work. So, we kind of knew each other’s tendencies.

For their efforts, Soldiers will be rewarded with an opportunity to compete in the men’s regional tournament at the University of Illinois-Chicago March 1.

Jackson has plans of competing in Chicago, but hopes he will be around for the championship this time.

I have no idea of what type of competition we are up against, Jackson said. We’re going to get together and practice before we go, and see what happens.