St. John’s Dismisses Three Starters
St. John’s expelled one player and permanently suspended two others Thursday night, hours after a woman was charged with falsely claiming she was raped by several players she met at a strip club.
After the woman was charged, St. John’s said it had expelled senior Grady Reynolds, who was arrested before last season on charges he pushed a female student against a wall.
University spokesman Dominic Scianna said the school also permanently suspended leading scorer Elijah Ingram, a sophomore, and senior Abraham Keita, pending expulsion hearings.
Two other players, freshman Lamont Hamilton and senior Mohammed Diakite, were also suspended, and another player, freshman Tyler Jones, will be disciplined, the school said.
St. John’s officials did not describe how the players violated team rules.
Sherri Ann Urbanek-Bach, 38, of Astoria, N.Y., was charged Thursday night with fictitious reports, attempted extortion and prostitution, hours after she claimed she was raped in a hotel by players she met in a strip club following the Red Storm’s 71-51 loss at No. 4 Pittsburgh on Wednesday night, Pittsburgh police said.
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The Mountain West Conference has reprimanded one of the officials who worked the Jan. 26 Brigham Young-New Mexico game at Albuquerque, which the Lobos won after Cougar guard Mark Bigelow was assessed a technical foul in the closing seconds of the game.
The conference announced the official, who was not named, “inadvertently” blew his whistle after Brigham Young tied the score at 63-63 on Kevin Woodberry’s tip-in with four seconds left.
Bigelow then ran onto the court and was called for the technical. Bigelow later said he thought he had heard a whistle before he went onto the court. Lobo guard Troy DeVries missed both free throws, but New Mexico won, 65-63, on a layup by Danny Granger.
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Suspended Wisconsin guard Maurice Wade was released from a Madison, Wis., jail on a signature bond a day after his arrest on charges he choked a 19-year-old woman.
Dane County Court Commissioner Todd Meurer ordered Wade to have no contact with the woman as a condition of his release.
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Oklahoma forward Kevin Bookout underwent surgery on his right shoulder. Bookout ended his season two weeks ago after deciding to have the surgery. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
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Portland has given men’s Coach Michael Holton, a former UCLA player and assistant, a five-year contract extension through the 2008-09 season.