Sebastian Telfair did the right thing.

Now shut up and go criticize Sasha Cohen.

MAN SLAIN, TWO WOUNDED AT HOOP STAR'S BUILDING

By PHILIP MESSING, LARRY CELONA and ERIN CALABRESE

February 9, 2004 -- Three men were shot last night, one fatally, on the third floor of a Brooklyn housing project near the apartment of high-school basketball star Sebastian Telfair, police said. The shootings took place at the Surfside Garden Houses on West 31st Street in Coney Island at about 7:15 p.m.

One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene. He died inside an elevator.

The two other victims were found in the hallway. One was taken to Lutheran Hospital, the other to Coney Island Hospital, both in critical condition.

Police gave no motive for the shootings, but sources said one of the victims was arrested for another shooting in the building last year.

Jo Li Wingata, 48, who said she was a cousin of the dead man, said she believed it was drug-related.

Telfair is a star point guard at Lincoln HS who will be a top pick in this year's NBA draft should he pass up college at Louisville, where he said he'd go.

He lives on the floor where the shooting took place, sources said.

Telfair was not home at the time. Police did not believe any of the victims were related to him. Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury, who also starred at Lincoln and grew up in the project, is Telfair's cousin.

Police were leaning toward the theory that the shooter was one of the three victims, but hadn't completely ruled out the possibility that there was a fourth person involved.

"It's happened one too many times out here," Wingata said. "All these kids they want to fight one another.

"They're thinking fast money. It's all about drugs - all about drugs." The project has recovered from some rocky times recently. Major crimes rose 47 percent from 2001 to 2002, but then dropped back to the 2001 level last year.