Sneed Says Tardiness Didn’t Prompt Him to Bench Ceballos

Cal State Fullerton’s Cedric Ceballos was benched for the first four minutes of a game against UC Irvine Wednesday for reasons other than being late for practice after attending the memorial service for Hank Gathers.

Fullerton Coach John Sneed has been criticized for being insensitive in benching Ceballos. “If he’d never gone to the funeral he still would’ve been benched, “ Sneed said. “That had nothing to do with it. I would never punish Cedric for going to a funeral.

“He didn’t take care of some other personal things that his mom and I requested he take care of. “

Ceballos said he was sorry Sneed was criticized.

“It made it look like he didn’t care about Hank Gathers’ funeral or where I was,” Ceballos said. “He did care about the reason I was late. But he benched me for being late. He gave me enough time. I feel bad it came out like Sneed was a bad guy.”

Ceballos said he told Sneed he would be attending the service but said he did not call to say he would be late, as he had said Wednesday.