LOS ANGELES -- The championship game of the Best of Summer Tournament came down to the Long Island Panthers vs. the Double Pump All-Stars #1.

The Double Pump All Stars #1 is actually the Pump's No. 2 team. Their No. 1 team had self-destructed during the tournament, and without enough players to field a team actually dropped out of the tournament.

If this was early in the summer, Long Island would have been the prohibitive favorite. But a long summer season, having to defeat the D.C. Assault to get to the title game, and Double Pump advance through a much easier bracket made it anybody's contest.

In addition, Long Island point guard Josh Wright began the game on the bench after spraining his ankle the day before against Nebraska.

Players on teams who aren't supposed to "be here" will usually have a lot more left for the last dance and that was the case in the championship game. However, you must still do more than show up and Double Pump came in ready to play.

With Long Island looking flat and playing a very soft man-to-man, Double Pump got a lot of open jump shot looks early and nailed them.

Long Island exhibited no change in demeanor or intensity as their deficit swelled to 23-7.

Double Pump, coached by Rob Alexander, had a very good game plan. They played a box-and-one on Charlie Villanueva, effectively taking him out of the game as the Panthers had no answer for the strategy. Since Villanueva and Wrigh are the only two perimeter shooters on the Panthers, it was game, set and match right there.

Double Pump led 46-25 at the half. The Panthers eventually started pressing and made a "cosmetic" rally to cut the lead to nine in the 2nd half after a three pointer by Wright.

Although the Pump team had contributions by many players, the story of the game was the floor play of 6'1 junior point guard (class of 2004) Jordan Farmar (Taft HS/Woodland Hills, CA).

Farmar controlled the game from beginning to end. He handled the ball against Long Island's full court pressure and found teammates for easy buckets on many 3-on-1 opportunities. He was also hitting his pull ups.

With Wright hobbling, the Panthers couldn't do anything against Farmar, who had an excellent summer and showed why he is a high major recruit and one of the nation's better point guard prospects.

The final score was 74-60, but it wasn't that close.

David Benezra and Mark Mayemura cover the national college basketball recruiting scene. E-mail at: hoopsusa@mindspring.com or call (818) 783-2244 or (818) 783-2212 for subscription information.