For Stanley Davis’s entire life, he has been overlooked. 

Since the Chester, Pennsylvania, native was five years old, there was someone always looking past the hard work that he had put in.

So, how did he get past that? He worked.

The childhood slights became the perfect stepping stones for Davis to grow a chip on his shoulder. In an attempt to prove to everyone that he could wrong, Davis worked as hard as he could so that nobody would be able to underrate him again.

“I was always overlooked,” Davis said. “I’m considered underrated. I was a late bloomer, but I had a chip on my shoulder my whole life.”

His work paid off, and after a high school career at the STEM Academy, Davis found his footing at DI Morgan State University. But that was only the tip of the iceberg for him. Davis was able to carve out a role for himself during his time at the Bears.

His playing time began to kick up after each season, becoming an all-around player. Ny the time Davis’s final season wrapped up, He was top 25 in Morgan State for career points, notching 1,044.

For him, it was his work and persistence even after his early setbacks that prepared him for his college career.

“When you prepare yourself. You’re good,” Davis said. “When you prepare yourself, you don’t have to worry about nothing. You worry about yourself. You are on your own journey, I’m on my own path. I can’t worry about nobody else. Once I continue to work hard, I know where I’m going, and I know where God is taking me.”

Davis was able to flex that work in his second appearance of the Rumph as apart of Coach Tone Runs. He had nine points in the first half against F.O.E., to help give his squad an 11-point cushion but his second half helped push his team into Saturday’s winners’ brackets.

Davis began to find his stroke from beyond the arc and put up 12 points in the final 20 minutes of play. His 21 points helped give Coach Tone Runs a lift heading into the rest of the Tournament.

“I just let the game come to me. I don’t force it,” Davis said. “I know I can get to my spots, to get wherever I want to go, but it’s just about getting my teammates involved first, and then everything is gonna open up from there.

While he was able to pick up a win, the Tournament has given him a chance to play with a mentor of his: Tony Paris.

As the weekend progresses, Coach Tone Runs will attempt to make it to a championship on Monday. The hope is that their performance set the tone for the expectations for the rest of the weekend.

“We set the tone,” Davis said. “We opened a lot of eyes. They had a young, fast team. We are a little older, but we pushed the pace. We ran them out of the gym, and we got the win.”