Webber’s School Won’t Forfeit Titles

Chris Webber’s high school refused Monday to forfeit three state basketball championships he helped win, a day after the Michigan High School Athletic Assn. ruled he should not have been allowed to play because of his relationship with a former Michigan booster.

The Sacramento King star violated his amateur standing and was ineligible during the time he played at Detroit Country Day, the governing body said Sunday in Beverly Hills, Mich. The association had left it up to the school to decide whether to forfeit games in which Webber played, including three state title games.

Country Day Headmaster Gerald Hansen said there was no trustworthy basis to support the MHSAA’s claim that Webber was ineligible.

“The assertion is based upon unproven innuendo, suspicion and speculation,” said Hansen, reading from a prepared statement. “Because Country Day has been given no credible evidence that Mr. Webber violated his amateur status while a student here, the school felt obligated to fight to retain the championships and to protect the school’s interests.”

The association’s executive director, Jack Roberts, urged the school to forfeit the championships it won from 1989 to 1991 with Webber and recommended the executive committee strike the team and Webber’s performance from its basketball records. However, the executive committee decided only to delete the references to Webber.

“I suggested to them that they voluntarily forfeit,” Roberts said Monday. “That would be the most appropriate.”

Ed Martin, who died last year, said he gave Webber and his family $280,000 from 1988 to 1993, a period extending from Webber’s freshman year of high school through his sophomore season at Michigan. Webber left for the NBA after helping the Wolverines reach the NCAA title game in both his college seasons.

Webber was sentenced to community service last summer after pleading guilty to criminal contempt for lying to a grand jury about his dealings with Martin.

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New Jersey Net point guard Jason Kidd is listed as day to day after an MRI exam revealed a bone bruise and no structural damage to his left knee, the team said.

The injury was disclosed Sunday after Kidd spent the final 14-plus minutes on the bench in a loss to the Lakers.

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Philadelphia 76er guard Allen Iverson was fined for the second time in the short tenure of interim Coach Chris Ford, this time for failing to contact him directly about not attending Sunday’s game because of a stomach ailment.

Iverson already had been ruled out of his fourth straight game because of a bruised shoulder. Iverson practiced Monday and is expected to return Wednesday in New York.

Ford, who fined and benched Iverson for missing the team’s first post-All-Star game practice, said the matter was closed.

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Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade was diagnosed with a bone bruise in his right foot after X-rays and an MRI exam and is expected to be sidelined a week to 10 days.

Wade, who probably will sit out three to five games, already has sat out 18 games because of injuries to his left foot, wrist and hip.

Wade was injured while trying to block a shot Sunday at Milwaukee

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The Golden State Warriors placed Nick Van Exel on the injured list because of left knee inflammation.

Van Exel had arthroscopic surgery on his knee in October and spent eight games on the injured list last month because of the same injury. Speedy Claxton, the Warriors’ starting point guard, also is on the injured list because of a broken hand. Avery Johnson, 38, is the probable starter tonight against Indiana.

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Two days after swingman Jerry Stackhouse unilaterally declared himself out for the season, the Washington Wizards had him examined and determined that he had tendinitis in both ankles but no structural problems with his surgically repaired right knee. The team said he would be reevaluated after rest and rehabilitation.... The NBA won’t permit suspended referee Michael Henderson to bring an attorney to his meeting with league officials today, prompting the referees’ union to call such gatherings “intimidation mechanisms.” Russ Granik, deputy NBA commissioner, dismissed those claims, saying, “This is a referee who needs some instruction. He doesn’t need to spend his day in a room full of lawyers.” The third-year official received a three-game suspension Friday for incorrectly calling a shot-clock violation near the end of last week’s Laker-Denver Nugget game. ... Former Toronto Raptor center Nate Huffman and the National Basketball Players Assn. sued the team and league, alleging the club hasn’t paid the $2.5 million he was awarded by an arbitrator last month.