Rhode Island Admits Odom, Who Pulls Out of NBA Draft

Former high school star Lamar Odom’s yearlong struggle to join the Rhode Island basketball team appears to be over.

Odom has been admitted as a full-time student in the fall, clearing the way for him to play next season for the Rams, who made it to the NCAA tournament’s final eight this year.

Odom was accepted late Tuesday, has signed a letter of intent to play and has removed his name from the NBA draft. Now he must complete 24 credit hours of classes this summer.

Odom, 18, is a New York native and was rated the top high school player in the country in 1997.

He applied to Rhode Island last year, but withdrew his application when officials said he needed to improve his academic performance.

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Texas Christian center Lee Nailon, the nation’s third-leading scorer last season, also is withdrawing from the NBA draft and returning to the Horned Frogs for his senior year.

Nailon, a 6-foot-8 forward, had indicated he would opt for the NBA only if it appeared he would be among the first 15 players chosen.

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Barring any last-minute hitches, Tom Penders will be introduced today as George Washington’s new men’s coach.

A morning news conference has been scheduled, and a source close to the George Washington program said Penders will replace Mike Jarvis, who left a week ago for St. John’s.

Penders, 53, was forced to resign in April after 10 years at Texas.

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Big 12 Conference presidents upheld a conference decision denying a third year of eligibility for former Texas player Luke Axtell when he transfers to Kansas. Axtell left Texas amid the controversy that led to Penders’ resignation.

Tennis

Cedric Pioline insists he can’t remember what he said to the chair umpire. Whatever it was, it was enough to get him kicked out of the Nottingham Open at England.

France’s Pioline, the runner-up at Wimbledon last year, was defaulted from the Wimbledon warmup for cursing Chilean umpire Pedro Bravo. He was trailing Australia’s Scott Draper, 6-3, 1-1, when he was ejected for “verbal abuse.”

“I don’t want to say what he said but it was verbal abuse,” tournament supervisor Gerry Armstrong said. “It was said in French, but the umpire understands French.”

Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov, seeded seventh at Wimbledon next week, was knocked out of the Heineken Open grass-court event at Rosmalen, Netherlands, 7-5, 6-2, by American Steve Campbell.

On the women’s side, American Kimberley Po knocked off top-seeded South African Amanda Coetzer, 6-4, 6-2, in a second-round match.

Jurisprudence

The woman who accused Atlanta Falcon linebacker Cornelius Bennett of sexual assault was among 37 people charged as part of a $1-million crack cocaine ring at Buffalo, N.Y.

The arrest could affect any judgment the woman may receive from a pending $8-million lawsuit against Bennett, who served a 36-day jail term after pleading guilty to the assault in a hotel room last year.

Texas Christian linebacker Marvin Leslie Mullins has been arrested on a charge of suspicion of burglary of a vehicle at Fort Worth.

Former Northwestern basketball player Dewey Williams has pleaded guilty at Chicago to a single sports bribery charge, closing the gambling case that rocked the prestigious school in late March.

Williams, the fourth and last defendant to plead guilty, faces a sentence ranging from probation to six months in prison.

Miscellany

Only hours after being granted waivers to compete in the USA Track and Field Championships this weekend in New Orleans, American record-holders Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Gail Devers withdrew Wednesday for unannounced reasons. Mary Slaney was also given a waiver.

Walter Ray Williams Jr., the Professional Bowlers Assn.’s points leader in 1998, leads the ACDelco Classic in Lakewood after the first round of qualifying. With 2,823 pins in 12 games, Williams is 37 ahead of Jeff Lizzi. Last year’s winner, Parker Bohn III, is 44th at 2,611.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fined $5,000 by NASCAR and put on probation for 90 days for a garage-area fight after Sunday’s Busch Grand National race at Fountain, Colo.

Earnhardt’s crew chief, Tony Eury Sr., was fined $2,500, and Bryant Frazier, crew chief for Tony Stewart, was fined $1,000.

USC’s Seth Davidson homered and Texas A&M;’s Casey Fossum struck out nine as the U.S. baseball team defeated Nicaragua, 3-2, in the first game of the World Championship qualifying tournament at Managua.

Orlando joined Tampa in a bid to bring the 2012 Olympics to central Florida. The two-city combination improves Florida’s chances of landing the international games, officials said during a news conference at the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Lubos Kubik scored on a penalty kick in the 64th minute and Zach Thornton made 10 saves for his league-leading fifth shutout as the Chicago Fire beat the Dallas Burn, 1-0, in a Major League Soccer game before 9,638 at Chicago.

Florida State quarterback Dan Kendra is recovering from face and chest injuries received when a chemical mixture exploded at his apartment at Tallahassee.

Kendra received 28 stitches in his nose, chest and stomach after the accident that occurred when he was mixing household chemicals.

Charles “Red” Silvia, 87, who coached more than 200 All-American swimmers and an Olympic gold medalist during his 41 years at Springfield College, has died at Springfield, Mass.

The America’s Cup yachting committee said the 1999 challenger races will be sailed off Auckland, New Zealand, dismissing calls by a Sydney syndicate to switch the series to Australia.

Merry Carole Snow, mother of San Francisco first baseman J.T. Snow and wife of former Ram receiver Jack Snow, died at her home in Chesterfield, Mo., after a long battle with cancer. She was 54.

A middleweight fight between Dwain Williams and Floyd Weaver has been added to Monday’s card at the Great Western Forum, replacing the scheduled Edgar Ruiz-Pat Coleman welterweight fight, which was canceled because of a hand injury sustained by Ruiz.