C-3’s Devon Davis had a nice game in a losing effort. Photo courtesy of funsportinc.com

With all the attention Lance “Born Ready” Stephenson has garnered recently, it’s easy to overlook some of the other gifted players in New York City’s PSAL. But in the Funsport Brooklyn High School Classic semifinals last weekend at Jefferson HS, the under-appreciated talents took center stage, and they didn’t disappoint.

After needing overtime to knock off Team Underrated in the quarterfinals, Team Hersh was back at it against C-3 Elite a day later. Yet again, regulation wasn’t enough to decide this up-and-down, extremely hard-fought contest. Devon Davis and Kenneth Holley gave it everything they had for C-3. Davis dropped 17 points and Holley tallied 11 and 13 boards, but Davontay Grace’s 18 points and Kyle Francis’ 14 rebounds proved too much as Team Hersh snuck away with a 72-70 victory.

In the second semifinal, two-time defending champ Usual Suspects tried to get away with using just five players. While it might have worked earlier on in the tournament, Brooklyn Ballers brought a full squad and exploited the Suspects’ lack of depth to earn a spot in the finals, with a 97-80 victory. Jo Jo Swift paced B.B. with 24 points and 7 dimes, and Isiah Wilkerson and Derrick Randall combined for 31 points. Sean Johnson and Devon Collier did everything they could for U.S. Johnson dropped 25 and reeled-in 10 rebounds and Collier scored 22 and collected 23 boards.

The Funsport championship, featuring Team Hersh and Brooklyn Ballers, is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 11 at 3 p.m. at Jefferson High School in Brownsville, Brooklyn. For directions and more information, check out the tournament website: http://www.funsportinc.com/youthleagues/highschool.html.

Special thanks to Barclays Nets Community Alliance, POWERade, Shirts & Skins and Hard 2 Guard Productions for sponsoring the event and an additional thanks to NYCHoops.net, Bouncemag.com, Thomas Jefferson and Bernard Chase for their help as well.