JOHNSTOWN -- Dozens of people laced up their shoes for a three-on-three basketball tournament Saturday, to raise money, and to remember a friend and family member from Johnstown, who lost his battle to heroin addiction last year.

Thirty-four teams competed at the Westmont Grove in Johnstown.

They're hoping to raise $6,500 to get Chris Herren, a former NBA player who lost everything to drugs, to speak to high school students in Johnstown, in memory of 23-year-old Tony Swalligan.

Basketball can bring people together. And that's exactly what Shane Downey is trying to do.

"Hopefully I can raise enough money,” Downey said while speaking to a person in the crowd.

He’s raising money in honor of his best friend, Swalligan, who died from a heroin overdose last year.

"People tend to forget, or remember people who die that way, and I wanted his legacy to be one of positivity, and you know I wanted his name to make a difference in the community," Downey said.

Swalligan played basketball for Bishop McCort but had to have surgery his junior year.

"After surgery on his knee, I guess when he didn't have any more pain pills, he went looking for other ways to dull the pain, and turned to heroin,” his older sister, Morgan Cypher, said. “And unfortunately led him down a path of destruction."

Swalligan went to Florida for treatment, but one relapse cost him his life.

His older sister now wants to bring a former NBA player to town to talk to high schoolers about the dangers of drugs.

"The money will be used for a terrific cause, to bring Chris Herren to Johnstown," she said. "Hopefully he can help change the minds of young people and get them educated so they don't move in the same direction my brother did."

Saturday’s tournament was a success.

"I did not expect this turnout, but it just goes to show that there's a great many number of advocates out there for addiction and alcoholism, and people who don't look down on it or don't frown upon it, and they recognize it as an illness," Downey said.

"If just one person says no because of this, it's enough," Cypher said.

Athletes from all over town, and friends from out of town are helping to get the ball rolling on the issue of heroin addiction.

"It's getting them together to talk about it,” Downey said. "It's getting them together to realize that there are certain things that can be done to make a difference."

Former classmates remember Swalligan as a great person and friend, saying he had a big heart,and this event showed the impact he had on his friends and community.

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