Titans’ Wayne Williams Ruled Ineligible : Basketball: Fullerton point guard’s departure ends stormy relationship with coach. School also announces signing of two other players.

Cal State Fullerton point guard Wayne Williams has been ruled academically ineligible and will not enroll in school this fall, Titan basketball Coach John Sneed said.

Sneed also announced Tuesday that Chauncey Woolridge, a 6-foot-5 swing player from Santa Ana High School, and Sean Williams, a 6-10 center from Connors State College in Warner, Okla., will play at Fullerton next season.

Williams’ departure ends what had been a stormy, three-year relationship between the point guard and Sneed.

Williams, a Manual Arts High graduate, was named to the Big West Conference all-freshman team in 1989-90, when he averaged 8.3 points and 5.2 assists.

He wasn’t a great outside shooter but earned the nickname “Buzzer Beater” because of several last-second baskets, including a 25-footer that gave the Titans a 93-92 victory over Nevada Las Vegas during his freshman year.

Williams averaged 9.8 points and 7.2 assists as a sophomore but announced after the season he would be transferring because he was unhappy with the style of defense Sneed preferred. The Titans played mostly matchup zone; Williams wanted to play man-to-man.

Williams had a change of heart last summer and decided to remain at Fullerton. He averaged 9.6 points and 6.4 assists as a junior.

But Williams criticized Sneed’s disciplinary methods, personnel decisions and strategy after a season-ending loss to the University of the Pacific, then led a player revolt in an attempt to get Sneed fired.

Sneed declined to comment, only to say that “Aaron Sunderland will be our point guard next year and he’s playing extremely well in the L.A. college league.”

Sunderland, a redshirt junior from Connors State College, was expected to challenge Williams for the starting job this season.

Williams, who was 207 assists short of Leon Wood’s school career record of 744, could not be reached for comment, but Sneed said he believed Williams might transfer to Division II Cal State San Bernardino to play for his old high school coach, Reggie Morris.

Williams is the second starter to leave the Titan program after a 14-14 season. Center Aaron Wilhite transferred to North Carolina Charlotte in April, but Sneed believes the addition of Sean Williams, who played high school basketball in Baltimore and one season at Navarro College in Texas, will ease the loss of Wilhite.

“We hope he’ll be an impact player for us,” Sneed said of Sean Williams, who averaged 10 points and five rebounds last season. “He gives us another dimension in the middle. He’s a legitimate center who should be a good rebounder and shot blocker for us. He should alter plenty of shots, too.”

Woolridge, who has met Proposition 48 requirements and will be eligible next season, ranked sixth among Orange County scorers with a 27.1 average and eighth among county rebounders with a 12.3 average.

“Many schools recruited him, but no one took him,” Sneed said. “He’s a good player, and we were fortunate to get him this late.”