The finalists will continue to work out in Washington, D.C., for the next few days, and a 12-man team will be announced on July 8.

The team will play in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Formosa, Argentina, on July 14-18. All of the players were born on or after Jan. 1, 1990.

Kelly has moved up quickly on the national level. He averaged 23.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.7 blocks at Ravenscroft last season and has been outstanding on the summer club team circuit.

A year ago, he was a college prospect, but probably not at the highest level.

Many 6 a.m., workouts and growing two inches has helped him improve. He has narrowed his list of schools to Wake Forest, Virginia, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Stanford, N.C. State and Davidson.

Scout.com currently ranks Kelly No. 28 on its national list. Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons said Kelly is a top 20 player on his list and is threatening the top dozen.

Kelly is spending some extra time with the coaches of a couple of his finalists -- Davidson's Bob McKillop is the head USA U18 coach, and John Thompson III of Georgetown is an assistant.

Kelly could be joined on the U.S. team by players who could have ties to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Also among the finalists are North Carolina commitments 6-foot-9 David Wear and twin Travis Wear of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei and guard Leslie McDonald of Memphis (Tenn.) Briarcrest.

Duke commitment 6-foot-11 Mason Plumlee of Asheville Christ School also is a finalist.

TAR HEELS LEAD ON SCOUT.COM LIST: Two of the top three football prospects in the state, according to scout.com, already have committed to the University of North Carolina.

Donte Moss, a 6-foot-4, 226-pound defensive end at Jacksonville Northside, and Justin Dixon, a 6-3, 232-pound linebacker at Smithfield-Selma, are among the Tar Heels' 12 known commitments.

Moss is No. 2 in the state and No. 40 in the nation according to scout.com.

Dixon is No. 3 in the state and No. 67 in the nation.

The state's top prospect is 6-6, 285-pound offensive lineman Xavier Nixon of Fayetteville Jack Britt.

Nixon is the state's top-ranked player, the nation's top-ranked offensive lineman and the No. 6 prospect in the country.

According to scout.com, he has narrowed his list of possible colleges to nine -- N.C. State, North Carolina, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Clemson, Louisiana State, South Carolina, Miami and Florida.

SPARTAN GETS NOTICED: Perry Simmons, a 6-5, 260-pound football lineman from Sanderson, has received scholarship offers from Duke, East Carolina, Navy and Western Carolina.

He has started his previous three years for the Spartans and has a 4.65 overall grade point average.

WEBB LINEBACKER LEAVES DUKE: Justin Wilkerson, a 6-3, 230-pound former linebacker at Oxford Webb, has left the Duke program and plans to transfer.

He did not play in any Duke games as a freshman in 2007.

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