Prince Transfers to Pepperdine

Tommie Prince, who led Compton Dominguez High to the State Division II basketball final in 1995, has transferred to Pepperdine after spending a troubled year at Arizona State that included criminal charges against the player.

Prince, a 6-foot-5 guard, will be eligible to play in the fall after sitting out the 1995-96 season because he did not meet academic requirements for freshman eligibility. He will be a sophomore next season.

“He wanted to play close to home,” said Mike Kapland, Prince’s attorney. “He thought there were too many things going on [at Arizona State].”

Prince and two other Arizona State basketball recruits, Rico Harris and George Gervin, were arrested in March on suspicion of sexual and physical assault of a female student and another woman in an athletic dormitory. Gervin is the son of NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin.

Charges were dropped against the three athletes after prosecutors decided there was little chance of getting convictions because of conflicting stories by the women. Harris and Gervin, who also were academically ineligible last season, remain at Arizona State.

Because the alleged incident took place on campus, school administrators considered taking disciplinary action against Prince. Kapland said Prince was cleared of misconduct at a hearing.

Prince is the third player from a Pacific 10 Conference school to transfer to Pepperdine since Lorenzo Romar was named the Waves’ coach in February.

When Romar was a UCLA assistant, he recruited Prince, whose scholarship offer from the Bruins was withdrawn when his college board examination was invalidated by a testing service.

Prince was admitted to Arizona State as a Proposition 48 athlete, requiring him to sit out the 1995-96 season without receiving financial aid. UCLA does not accept Proposition 48 candidates.

“When I found out he couldn’t go to UCLA, it broke my heart,” Romar said last year.

Because Prince was in good academic standing at Arizona State, he can transfer to Pepperdine and gain immediate eligibility.

Prince fills the 13th and last scholarship for Pepperdine, which has seven returnees and six newcomers, including transfers omm’A Givens and Jelani Gardner. Givens, a 6-10 center from UCLA, and Gardner, a 6-6 guard from California, each will have two years of eligibility after sitting out next season because of NCAA rules.