Bone & Favors - Players of the Year

Crosby, Diggins,Taylor, Kelly and Bradley win

Derrick Favors (l) and Kelsey Bone (r) recieve their National Players of the Year award in front of the ESPN cameras.

Coral Gables, FL - The 2009 McDonald's All-American festivities got underway Monday evening at the Bank United on the campus of “The U” in Coral Gables, FL with the POWERade Jam Fest, which included the Three-Point Shoot-Out, the Skills Competition and the SLAM Dunk Contest.

Prior to all of the competition 4SHOT Hoops “Player of the Year” Derrick Favors (South Atlanta H.S., Atlanta, GA) and Kelsey Bone (John Foster Dulles H.S., Stafford, TX) both received their “National Player of the Year” awards in front of the ESPN cameras.

The “Three-Point Shoot-Out” was the first event of the night and the girls were up first. Competing in the event were Taylor Hill (South H.S., Minneapolis, MN - Undecided), Erica Wheeler (Parkway Academy, Miami, FL - Rutgers), Skylar Diggins (Washington H.S., South Bend, IN – Notre Dame), China Crosby (Manhattan Ctr for Science & Math, Bronx, NY – Virginia), Kelly Faris (Heritage Christian School, Plainfield, IN – Connecticut), Taber Spani (Metro Academy, Lee’s Summit, MO – Tennessee) and Joslyn Tinkle (Big Sky H.S. (Missoula, MT – Stanford).

China Crosby showed out in the Skill Competition.

When it was all said and done it was Diggins who drained the most three’s and took home the hardware.

Then it was the fellows turn as Lance Stephens (Lincoln H.S., Brooklyn, N.Y. – Undecided; Stephens will announce his decision on Tuesday.), Xavier Henry (Putnam City H.S., Oklahoma City, OK – Memphis), Tommy Mason-Griffin (James Madison H.S., Houston, TX – Oklahoma), Kenny Boynton Jr. (American Heritage School, Pompano Beach, FL – Florida), Abdul Gaddy Jr. (Bellamine Prep, Tacoma, WA – Washington), Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony H.S., Jersey City, NJ – Villanova) and Ryan Kelly (Ravenscroft School, Raleigh, NC – Duke) all stepped outside the arc.

In a shoot-out it came down to Kelly and Mason-Griffin, who had a chance to win but his “Money Ball” rimmed out as Kelly raised his index finger in victory; reminiscent of when Larry Bird won the NBA Three-Point contest.

In the girls’ skills competition it came down between speedsters China Crosby (Manhattan Ctr for Science & Math, Bronx, NY – Virginia) and Dana Taylor (Caravel Academy, Wilmington, DE – Maryland). Both players dazzled the fans with the speed and quickness they displayed dribbling the ball through the obstacle course. At the end of the day it was Crosby winning by a few seconds.

The POWERade Jam Fest Slam Dunk Contest

Surprisingly in the boys’ skills contest it was 6-9 Dante Taylor (National Christian Academy, MD – White Pains, NY – Pittsburgh) who put his skills on display to speed past the field.

The SLAM Dunk contest ended the JAM Fest activities for the night. Derrick Favors (South Atlanta H.S., Atlanta, GA – Georgia Tech) started the buzz, hammering a pair of first round dunks. 6-11 Mason Plumlee (Christ School, NC – Winona Lake, IN - Duke), Avery Bradley Jr. (Friday College Prep, NV – Puyallup, WA – Texas) and Peyton Siva (Franklin H.S., Seattle, WA – Louisville) turned up the heat with some raw dunks.

Siva who is from Seattle, WA has that NYC swagger and he put it all on display as he took off his jersey to perform one dunk that would have brought the house down if he had completed it but he didn’t, thus eliminating him from moving on.

San Diego Chargers star Shawne Merriman applaudes as former Atlanta Hawks star Dominique Wilkins is introduced.

Favors failed to complete his second rounds dunks and that left Plumlee and Bradley to battle it out. You could have given Plumlee the trophy had he completed a dunk that involved dunking three basketballs at one time but when he missed the dunk that opened the door for Bradley who took advantage of the opening to slam home his final dunk to win the contest.

The celebrity judges on-hand included former Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard, San Diego Chargers star Shawne Merriman, Baltimore Ravens star Ed Reed, Carolina Panthers star Steve Smith, WNBA Star Swin Cash (Seattle Storm), Arizona Cardinals star Antrel Rolle and former Atlanta Hawks star Dominique Wilkins.