BRIEFLY.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Tar Heels stars head for payday

Calling it the ``perfect way to end a season and a career'' at North Carolina, Sean May joined teammates Raymond Felton and Marvin Williams in an announcement Friday that they'll forgo their college basketball eligibility and enter the upcoming NBA draft.

Earlier, Rashad McCants said he was going pro, meaning the Tar Heels, coming off the NCAA championship, lose their top seven scorers after seniors Jawad Williams, Jackie Manuel and Melvin Scott leave.

``If the program was devastated, I'd be leaving with them,'' coach Roy Williams said.

Felton, May and McCants were part of a heralded class recruited by former coach Matt Doherty. May, the 6-foot-9 center, was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four, averaging 22.3 points and 10.7 rebounds during the NCAA tournament.

TRACK AND FIELD: Less than a week after a last-place finish in her first outdoor meet of the year, Marion Jones will compete in today's Kansas Relays.

Jones, the former Thousand Oaks High star who won three gold and two bronze medals at Sydney in 2000 but was shut out in Athens last summer, ran the 400 meters in 55.03 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays last Sunday, 25 yards behind winner Novlene Williams (51.49).

Jones, who did not speak to reporters after that race, blamed the poor outing on a mental lapse.

``I am not concerned physically,'' said Jones, competing in the 800 relay with Muna Lee, Stephanie Durst and LaShinda Demus. ``It was just a mental breakdown. My immediate focus is still on being the fastest woman in the world.''

OLYMPICS: New York was cleared by the IOC ethics commission of breaking any rules in bidding for the 2012 Olympics by offering a late package of benefits that included $50,000 in subsidies to each Olympic body toward the cost of using a pre-games training facility in Britian.

HOCKEY: The ECHL suspended Bakersfield right wing Ashlee Langdone for eight games for a blindside hit that injured NHL star and Alaska player Scott Gomez in an April 16 playoff game.

Gomez, a center for the NHL's New Jersey Devils, suffered a hairline fracture of the pelvis and will likely be sidelined at least a month.

CYCLING: Denmark's Brian Vandborg won the fourth stage of the Tour de Georgia while Lance Armstrong, complaining of a stomach ache, was seventh on the 133-mile leg and moved to eighth in the overall standings.

TENNIS: Sebastien Grosjean took advantage of Andre Agassi's serving troubles and pulled off a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 upset in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston.

SOCCER: France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, a key member of the French team that won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship, was banned for three months after spitting on a referee during an exhibition game two months ago.

BOXING: Indonesia's Yohannes Christian John recovered from a knockdown in the first seconds of the bout to keep his WBA featherweight title with a unanimous decision over American Derrick Gainer in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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SEAN MAY

The North Carolina star joins Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams and Rashad McCants as possible lottery picks in the upcoming NBA draft.