Favors cements ranking

Forward is MVP at Gibbons event

CHAPEL HILL -- Any question about who is the best high school basketball player in the country probably was erased Sunday at the Smith Center when Derrick Favors gave an incredible performance.

The 6-foot-9 forward led the Atlanta Celtics to a 72-62 victory over a very good Team Breakdown in the U17 championship game of the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions.

Favors finished with 20 points and probably had a triple double, although no official statistics were kept for rebounds and blocks.

The TOC -- filled with nationally prominent club teams for 15 years -- has been a showcase for great players in the past. Greg Oden, Gerald Wallace, Kwame Brown, Joe Forte, Jordan Farmar, J.J. Redick, Raymond Felton and others have sparkled in the event.

Favors was as outstanding as any.

"I'm legendary now," Favors said with a laugh after being voted the tournament's most valuable player.

But Favors also had one of his worst moments on Sunday.

He deliberately elbowed an opponent in a 67-62 win over the Indiana Elite in the semifinals and was called for a flagrant foul and ejected.

"I just lost my head for a second," he said. "That's not the real me. I went over and apologized. That will never happen again."

The Celtics hung on to beat the Elite to reach the final, but Favors quickly was hit with two fouls in the title game and went to the bench.

The Florida-based Breakdown grabbed a quick 10-point lead, led by outstanding point guard Kenny Boynton, a Duke target, and sophomore Brandan Knight.

When Favors returned, he showed why Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports and Dave Telep of Scout.com have him rated No. 1 in the class of 2009.

The game completely changed.

Favors controlled the boards, blocked shots, pounded dunks, drove, hit short jumpers and ran the floor like few 225-pound big men in the world.

"He is at a different level," Telep said. "There are other elite players, but he is something special.

"There was some separation between him and all the other guys."

WALL AND ROSS SHINE: Raleigh Word of God point guard John Wall, the top-ranked player by Rivals.com, had an outstanding tournament, as did Panther Creek guard Earnest Ross.

Wall averaged 24 points and led D-One Sports into the championship bracket quarterfinals, where it lost to the Indiana Elite 68-62.

Ross averaged 19.5 points and led his North Carolina Fire to a victory over Wall's D-One team.

The Fire reached the quarterfinals in the U-17 select bracket -- teams that did not win their pools -- before losing to the New Orleans Jazz, the select bracket champion.

SCORING LEADERS: Point guard Donnell Cooper of Chicago's Mean Streets led all scorers with 26.6 points per game.

He was followed by 6-8 Christian Watford of the Mike Miller M33M (26.5) and point guard Tyrone Garland of Cuttino Mobley Philly Pride (25.3).

Kenny Boynton scored 24.6 points per game and 6-5 Donald Williams of the New Orleans Jazz, the U-17 most valuable player, rounded out the top five with 24.0.

The complete scoring leaders are expected to be posted at www.bobgibbons.net by tonight.

HEELS OFFER SCHOLARSHIP: Ravenscroft's Ryan Kelly, a 6-9 forward rated among the top prospects in the country, picked up a scholarship offer from the University of North Carolina recently.

Carolina already has commitments in the class of 2009 from 6-9 twins David and Travis Wear of Santa Ana, Cal., and 6-10 John Henson of Round Rock, Texas, but offered Kelly anyway.

Kelly said his list includes UNC, Wake Forest, Virginia, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Stanford, N.C. State and Davidson.