Prince Admitted to Arizona State : College basketball: Former UCLA recruit will register after scholarship was revoked.

Tommy Prince, who lost a scholarship to attend UCLA after his college entrance exam was invalidated last week, has been admitted to Arizona State and plans to register this weekend, his mother said Wednesday.

Diane Prince said her son, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward from Compton Dominguez High, was contacted by Arizona State coaches after UCLA revoked its scholarship because of questions arising from the Scholastic Assessment Test.

“Hopefully it will come back to [haunt] UCLA,” she said. “Things happen for a reason. I believe it is all for the better.”

Prince will attend Arizona State as a Proposition 48 athlete. Because he has not met all academic requirements for freshman eligibility, he must sit out the 1995-96 season and cannot receive financial aid. UCLA does not accept Proposition 48 candidates.

“When I found out he couldn’t go to UCLA, it broke my heart,” said Lorenzo Romar, the Bruin assistant coach who recruited Prince. “But to see him get a chance to continue his education and to stay close to home, I’m very excited for him. ASU got a great addition.”

Prince is not bound by the Pacific 10 Conference transfer rules, which state intra-league transfers must sit out two years before gaining eligibility. Because he never enrolled at UCLA nor practiced with the Bruin basketball team, he was free to attend any school that would admit him.

Diane Prince said Wednesday that the family will challenge the SAT invalidation in an attempt to regain the fourth year of eligibility.

“We won’t leave it alone,” she said, adding she plans to retain a lawyer.

Prince’s problems began this summer, when UCLA reported discrepancies in his test score results to Educational Testing Service after “analyzing” five exams. Prince failed to reach an NCAA-minimum qualifying score until May on his fifth try, his mother said.

Educational Testing Service, a testing firm based in Princeton, N.J., that administers the SAT, challenged Prince’s qualifying score, which was in the low 900s. To be eligible as freshmen, athletes must score a composite of at least 820 out of 1,600, a change from the previous standard of 700.

Prince retook the test this month but failed to get a qualifying score.

Times staff writer Tim Kawakami contributed to this story.