High School Player, Coach Involved in Altercation

In an echo of the Latrell Sprewell incident, a basketball player on a top-ranked California high school team has been cited by police for attacking his coach.

The player in turn has accused the coach of striking him, and the coach was ordered away from Oakland Fremont High while Oakland school officials investigate the incident, the Oakland Tribune reported Tuesday.

The altercation between veteran coach Clint Williams and junior Larry Guess took place last week, after Fremont was ordered in a league hearing to forfeit 18 games and a district championship for using an ineligible player, senior forward Armond Wainright.

Williams and Guess had words as they left a team meeting called to discuss the punishment, then apparently grappled. The coach suffered a scratched cornea and Guess was cited by Oakland police for attacking a school employee.

Guess, who suffered a cut on his cheek, accused Williams of punching him.

Fremont Principal Emily Gaddis told the coach to stay away from campus during the investigation, police said.

Fremont had clinched the Oakland Athletic League regular-season championship when league officials called the hearing Thursday over Wainright’s eligibility.

Sprewell, formerly of the Golden State Warriors, was suspended for a year by the NBA and the Warriors terminated his contract after he choked Coach P.J. Carlesimo at practice last Dec. 1.

Tennis

Boris Becker withdrew from the Franklin Templeton Tennis tournament at Scottsdale, Ariz., because of a back injury and is questionable for next week’s Newsweek Champions Cup event at Indian Wells.

Becker, who had accepted a wild-card entry for Indian Wells, has been bothered by injuries for a year and withdrew from 10 tournaments in 1997. He is 2-1 in 1998 but withdrew from his last two tournaments, at Dubai because of a pulled abdominal muscle in February and then in Philadelphia last week.

Andre Agassi defeated sixth-seeded Albert Portas, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, in a first-round match in the tournament at Scottsdale.

The victory ran Agassi’s 1998 singles record to 12-2, which means he has matched his win total of 1997, when he was 12-12 and finished out of the ATP Tour top 100 for the first time.

Seventh-seeded Goran Ivanisevic fell to Dutchman Jan Siemerink, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, in the ABN AMRO indoor tournament at Rotterdam, Holland, after the Croatian double-faulted on match point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker. Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman, seeded second, was upset by Spanish qualifier Tomas Carbonell, ranked 195th in the world, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4.

Football

Running back Lamar Smith, serving a four-month prison term in Seattle for vehicular assault that left a teammate paralyzed, was freed for 24 hours so he could sign a four-year, $7.1-million contract with the New Orleans Saints. . . . Running back Robert Smith re-signed with the Minnesota Vikings, agreeing to a five-year contract at undisclosed terms. . . . The San Francisco 49ers waived running back Terry Kirby, a move that will save $667,000 in salary cap room. . . . The Tennessee Oilers will play at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, their third home in as many years, under a tentative agreement reached Tuesday. . . . The Kansas City Chiefs signed two assistant coaches, one of them Coach Marty Schottenheimer’s son. Lionel James, 36, will coach the team’s running backs, and Brian Schottenheimer, 24, was hired as an offensive assistant and quality-control coach.

Jurisprudence

Corey Dillon of the Cincinnati Bengals was arrested for investigation of drunken driving in Seattle. The running back says he was not drinking.

Dillon, one of the top rookies in the NFL last year, was pulled over about 1 a.m. Tuesday. Police said his car was turning without signaling and possibly speeding.

The 23-year-old player was booked for investigation of driving under the influence, negligent driving and driving with a suspended license. He later posted bail.

Less than a month after marijuana nearly cost Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati an Olympic gold medal, one of his countrymen and another international competitor were jailed on pot-related charges in Minden, Nev.

Michael Kildevaeld of Denmark’s Olympic snowboarding team, and Canadian Frederic Brett Tippie were arrested Saturday after a sheriff’s deputy stopped their car for traveling 83 mph in a 55-mph speed zone on U.S. 395 near Topaz Lake.

Another passenger, American snowboarder Anton David Pogue, of Hood River, Ore., was asleep at the time and was not arrested.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Lance Modispacher said a drug-sniffing dog found about two grams of suspected marijuana and a pipe inside the car. Kildevaeld, 31, admitted the substance belonged to him. He was charged with felony marijuana possession and misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and driving under the influence.

Miscellany

Oscar De La Hoya’s twice-postponed World Boxing Council title defense against Patrick Charpentier lost its home when the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., said it no longer wanted the fight.

Trump Taj Mahal officials said they decided against holding the bout on the new date of June 13 because of a conflict with the start of World Cup soccer in France the same weekend. The resort said it had reached agreement with promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank and that he anticipates taking the fight to El Paso or Las Vegas.

Two women’s boxing matches on the undercard of Saturday’s WBC super-lightweight title fight at Mexico City have been canceled because of a 1940s law banning female boxing.

U.S. champion Christie Martin was to have fought Daniela Somers of the Netherlands, and Mexican champion Laura Serrano was to have boxed U.S. fighter Irsa Gigrah in the capital city’s main bullring before the main event between Julio Cesar Chavez and Miguel Angel Gonzalez.

Lin Dunn, who coached the Portland Power to the Western Conference title, was voted American Basketball League coach of the year.

L.A. Galaxy defender Greg Vanney and midfielder Cobi Jones were called up to play for the U.S. national team’s game against Paraguay on March 14 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

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Randy Harvey is on vacation.