The Dec. 27-29 tournament is returning to its roots by playing at Broughton High's Holiday Gymnasium, the event's home from its start in 1973 through 1984.

The eight-team invitational field has a blend of national, area and state teams. There also is a four-team boys tournament and a four-team girls tournament.

The invitational field will include Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft and Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha plus N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association powers Ravenscroft and Raleigh Word of God.

Durham Jordan, Southern Durham, Knightdale and Kinston will complete the field.

Taft, led by University of North Carolina recruit at point guard Larry Drew, opens the Invitational at 4 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 27 against Jordan, which is led by guard Justin Watts.

* At 5:30, Ravenscroft, with 6-11 junior Ryan Kelly, will face a Kinston team that is among the favorites in the state at the 3-A level. The Vikings are led by five seniors and sophomore Reggie Bullock, who has generated national attention.

* At 7:20, Southern Durham will play a Word of God team led by N.C. State recruit C. J. Leslie and point guard Jon Wall.

* The 9 p.m. nightcap will feature DeMatha, the country's best known high school basketball program, facing Knightdale.

The four-team boys field is all local with Broughton (4-1 through Thursday), Northern Durham (2-1), Green Hope (4-0) and Panther Creek (5-1) participating.

The girls field has McDowell County (led by senior Kurie Washington, who averaged 24 points per game), Wakefield (7-0 through Thursday games), Athens Drive (4-2) and Garner (3-0).

General admission tickets are $10 per day.

BENGAL TO STATE: Former Fuquay-Varina tackle Sam Jones, who played at Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military this fall, committed to N.C. State last week.

Jones, a 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive tackle, had committed to State in 2006, but went to Hargrave for a year.

State also has got commitments from cornerback Gary Grant of Miami Krop and linebacker Elton Ford of Lithonia, Ga. (6-1, 200).

State is believed to have 17 commitments.

UNC CHASING BIG FISH: University of North Carolina football coach Butch Davis is pursuing some of the top prospects in the nation.

A year ago, the Tar Heels signed defensive lineman Marvin Austin, who was the top-ranked defensive tackle prospect in the country.

UNC was expecting a visit this weekend from cornerback Patrick Johnston of Pompano Beach (Fla.) Ely, the top-ranked cornerback in the country by scout.com.

He has committed to Miami.

Carolina also had an in-home visit scheduled with 6-1, 210 pound linebacker Arthur Brown of Wichita (Kan.) East, who is scout.com's No. 1-ranked linebacker.

Brown has narrowed his choices to Carolina, Florida, LSU, Miami, and Southern California.

UNC is believed to have seven commitments.

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