Point-Shaving Allegations Bring Probe at Fresno State

Rumors of Fresno State basketball players shaving points this season have prompted college and law-enforcement authorities to investigate, the Fresno Bee reported Thursday.

But Coach Jerry Tarkanian said there was no truth to the rumors and that the investigations were launched only after the newspapers asked.

“There’s no basis to the article,” Tarkanian said. “The newspaper asked the FBI to look into it.”

After the game, Tarkanian confronted one of the writers of the article and called him a liar.

Tarkanian said the rumors have focused on point guard Dominick Young.

“He’s so upset,” Tarkanian said of Young. “I want someone to investigate this because it’s the worst thing you can say about someone--that they shaved points.”

University officials said they could find no evidence to substantiate the rumors and had not been contacted by authorities.

Fresno State President Jon Welty told the newspaper the university is investigating the rumors and is in contact with the WAC and NCAA.

Besides the university’s investigation, Fresno County Sheriff Steve Magarian said his detectives became aware of the allegations while working on another case and turned their information over to the FBI.

The Bee published an analysis that shows the Bulldogs (20-10) beat the spread only seven times in 30 games.

Tennis

Goran Ivanisevic and Richard Krajicek, the top two seeded players, struggled but survived their second-round matches at the ABN AMRO indoor tournament at Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Ivanisevic outlasted Guillaume Raoux of France, 7-5, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, and Krajicek edged David Prinosil of Germany, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5).

Third-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain won his second-round match against Christian Ruud of Norway, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), to advance in the Franklin Templeton Classic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

College Football

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him under contract with the school until June 30, 2001. Fry has a 133-76-6 record in 18 seasons at Iowa.

Auto Racing

Tim Bender, best known for winning 11 world snowmobile championships, earned the pole position for Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Grand National race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Bender set a track qualifying record with a lap of 179.835 mph on the 1 1/2-mile oval.

Winter Sports

The coronation of Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg as overall World Cup women’s Alpine champion was delayed when the super-giant slalom at Mammoth Mountain was postponed because of high winds.

The super-G will be held at 9 a.m. today, followed by the slalom.

At Craftsbury, Vt., Frode Lillefjell and Doris Hausleitner won the men’s and women’s cross-country races for Alaska Anchorage in the NCAA ski championships.

Olympic gold medalist Mark Kirchner of Germany, shooting all 20 targets, won his first gold medal of the season in a 20-kilometer race in the Biathlon World Cup series at Nozawa Onsen, Japan. Slovenia’s Andraja Grasic won the women’s 15-kilometer event.

Anton Pogue of Hood River, Ore., took charge on the first run and breezed to victory in a snowboard World Cup slalom in Graechen, Switzerland.

Names in the News

Mississippi State quarterback Derrick Taite and wide receiver James Jones will appear in court March 27 on drug charges. They were arrested when a small amount of marijuana was discovered in their car by Starkville, Miss., police at a roadblock. Both were suspended by Coach Jackie Sherrill. Taite, the driver, also was arrested for driving on a suspended license, police said.

Free-agent punter John Jett, who has spent his career with the Dallas Cowboys, has signed a three-year, $1.5-million contract with the Detroit Lions, according to a radio report in Dallas. . . . The Pittsburgh Steelers surprisingly re-signed former starting quarterback Mike Tomczak to a multiyear contract after he agreed to a demotion to third string. . . . Bennie Blades agreed to a three-year, $3.3-million free-agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks, joining brother Brian after spending nine seasons with the Detroit Lions.

George Pasero, an award-winning sports editor and columnist for the Oregon Journal and the Portland Oregonian, died Thursday of a stroke. He was 79.

Former champions Jeff King, Doug Swingley, and Martin Buser held the top three positions as the Iditarod Trail sled-dog race neared the halfway point in Alaska. Race officials also announced that a third dog had died.