6•Monday, May 12, 2014
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‘Very bad decision’ cause for dismissals By Steve Mims
THE REGISTER-GUARD
EUGENE — It was the day before he took his team to the NCAA Tournament when Dana Altman said he first learned there was trouble within his basketball program. “Rob came into the office and said that there was an incident,” the Oregon men’s basketball coach said during a news conference Friday. It was Monday, March 17, when Altman said athletic director Rob Mullens told him that and not much more. “We didn’t have the details,” Mullens said. “We didn’t have the identities confirmed, but we were aware that an incident had been reported to student affairs. Even in conversations the day prior to leaving, we got very specific about whether we should leave anybody home or whether we should make contingency plans to return individuals as additional information became available.” Guards Damyean Dotson and Dominic Artis played in Oregon’s second-round victory over BYU and the third-round loss to Wisconsin in Milwaukee less than two weeks after being involved in an incident that led them to be investigated for sexual assault along with Brandon Austin, a freshman who sat out the season after transferring from Providence. “I didn’t know how serious the allegations that were placed upon the young men were at the time,” Altman said, adding he didn’t even know which players were under investigation during the NCAA Tournament. It wasn’t until April 30 that Altman and Mullens said they saw the graphic police report detailing the events on the night of Saturday, March 8. The next day, the three players involved were dismissed from the team. “When you read the police report, it is very clear that it is conduct that is not fitting of a University of Oregon athlete,” Mullens said. “It was very clear to us that those were individuals
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we did not want representing our organization.” Altman said all three players have returned to their hometowns to be with their families. The players are still enrolled at the university. “I am very disappointed in the three young men,” Altman said. “As a father who has sons and a daughter, any family man would be greatly disappointed.” Oregon did not announce any discipline for the players until Monday when the school issued a statement saying the three were “not currently participating in any team activities.” The school didn’t announce the suspensions at that time because of federal privacy laws, senior associate athletic director Craig Pintens said. The Ducks made the dismissals public on Friday, leaving the team with just three returning players on scholarship for next season: senior guards Joseph Young and Jalil Abdul-Bassit, and junior forward Elgin Cook. Ben Carter and A.J. Lapray announced they were transferring last month and now Artis, Dotson and Austin are gone as well. “I believe it is in the best interest of the young men, and the best interest of our program, that this is the decision,” said Altman, who later added that “there would be a lot of pressure here at Oregon if they returned and tried to play basketball.” Altman said the players were “disappointed” to find out they were gone from the program. “D.A. and Dot loved the university, they loved their time here,” Altman said. “It was disappointing.” Dotson was a two-year starting guard and Artis started as a freshman before playing mostly in a reserve role last season. The two helped Oregon reach backto-back NCAA Tournaments. Dotson averaged 11.4 points as a freshman and 9.4 as a sophomore. He was suspended for one game this season after trying to use false identification to get into a campus bar. Altman
defended Dotson after that incident, calling him “a good young man” who “has done a lot of good things”. “Good people can make bad decisions,” Altman said Friday. “This obviously was a very bad decision.” Artis started 25 games as a freshman and averaged 8.5 points and a team-leading 3.2 assists per game. He was suspended the first nine games of his sophomore season by the NCAA for selling team-issued shoes and averaged 4.1 points after he returned. Austin was one of the top recruits in the country when he signed with Providence last year, but he was suspended for the season and transferred to Oregon in January. Altman said he talked with Providence coach Ed Cooley before signing Austin. “He said it was not a legal matter, it was a university matter,” Altman said of Austin’s suspension at Providence. “The fact that Providence tried to keep him gave us confidence it wasn’t a serious matter.” On March 18th — the day the Ducks landed in Milwaukee and the day after Altman first heard about the trouble brewing in his own program — the Wall Street Journal reported that Austin was being investigated by police in Rhode Island for sexual assault. Altman said before he signed Austin, he spoke with him and his family but was not given a specific reason for his suspension at Providence. “My line of questioning probably didn’t go deep enough,” Altman said. Altman said he has asked himself plenty of questions in recent weeks. “I think any time something of this nature happens, you question a lot of things,” Altman said. “I felt comfortable and confident with these young men, and when I read the report I was very disappointed. You have a history with the young men and so, again, reading the report, I was shocked and I was disappointed.”
in school history at .390. Junior pitcher Melanie Dembinski got the win in both the second and slugging percentage (.700) and she third games of the series. She held used her grand slam Saturday to tie Stanford to four runs Friday in the 12-4 her for eighth place in career home triumph, which was shortened one inning by the eight-run mercy rule. runs (25). She entered Saturday’s game with Junior second baseman Ya Garcia recorded a hit in each game, going her team down 9-5 and didn’t allow 4-for-11 in the series with two walks. another Cardinal to reach home. The Stanford series marks the final She raised her batting average over the weekend from .192 in all confer- game of the year for Oregon State, which loses four seniors — right ence games to .219. Junior left fielder Kori Nishitomi, fielder Isabelle Batayola, utility player in her first year at OSU after transfer- Hannah Bouska, Najdek and Niehus. ring from Longwood University in The Daily Barometer Farmville, Va., finished the season On Twitter @barosports with the ninth-best batting average sports@dailybarometer.com
nicki silva
| THE DAILY BAROMETER
The Oregon State infield celebrates at the conclusion of Sunday’s series sweep of UCLA in Goss Stadium.
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blast to right field. The Beavers dominated from there on out, scoring the final 11 runs of the ball game. “That was nice, it felt good,” Hendrix said of the home run. “I got around on a changeup. It was the third one in a row he threw me so I was right on it.” Though Oregon State swept the Bruins, outscoring them 24-7 in the three wins, the series was closer than the scores indicated. Both Friday’s and Saturday’s wins were come-from-behind efforts, and Saturday’s game was close until the end. OSU gave the Bruins credit, saying their triumph is a testament of the improvements the Beavers are making as a team in recent games. “I feel like UCLA came down here fighting,” Fry said. “They came out ready with energy Friday and we responded every single time. That’s how it was every game this weekend.” “It was such a great team series for us, it felt like everyone had a part in it,” Conforto added. “That’s a great success
for us for this weekend and something we can take moving into the week.” The Beavers’ three wins keep them in first place in the Pac-12 standings, a game up on the No. 6 Huskies, who travel to Corvallis next weekend for the most important series of the year for either team to date. Despite the important slate of games looming in the distance, Sunday was a day of celebration for Oregon State, and especially for Conforto, who could be seen hugging his mother in the left-field stands. It’s no secret who his recordbreaking day was dedicated to. But the work’s never complete for Oregon State, which faces Portland Tuesday before the big weekend showdown. “We’re going to enjoy this series (now) ... and then (Monday) it starts over and we go to back to what it’s been every week,” Conforto said. “We’ll go back to work and get ready for Portland.”
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breaking into the top 50. Many OSU athletes forwent competition last weekend in order to rest up for this weekend’s Pac-12 Championships. There are many Oregon State athletes will look to improve their marks in order to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Championships. Were they to qualify, they would join Ausman and junior Kinsey Gomez in Fayetteville, AR two weeks later. Next weekend’s Pac-12 Championships will be held in Pullman, Wash., on Saturday and Sunday.
six and was a three-year starter — signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Shortly after the draft concluded Saturday, he tweeted, “Just wan it thank god for giving me the opportunity to make my life long dream a reality !! Jacksonville here I come !! #underdognation” Andrews, meanwhile, signed with the Chip Kelly and the Philadelphia Eagles, Philipp will take part in train-
ing camp with the Cleveland Browns and Hatfield will be with the San Diego Chargers. While only Cooks and Crichton are guaranteed a roster spot next season, all five Beavers will have a chance at playing in the NFL. Oregon State isn’t back in action until Aug. 30, when the Beavers take on Portland State in their first game without last year’s senior class and the departed Cooks and Crichton.
tion, seeing his walk total go up and just being a smarter hitter from his freshman year to know is unbelievable.” While Fry was dishing out praise for his teammate after the game, he was no slouch either, allowing two runs on three hits in eight innings. UCLA scored the first two runs of the game in the first inning, but Fry settled down finishing with seven strikeouts in his 10th win of the season. “I felt like I got better as each inning went on,” he said. “Obviously a shaky start, but I started settling in there toward the end. “I wasn’t really locating anything at that point. I don’t know what it was, it could have been a mentality thing, but after I got out of that first inning, I settled down and just tried to make pitches.” Oregon State tied the game up in the third inning on sophomore center fielder Jeff Hendrix’s second home run of the season — a two-run
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Andrew Kilstrom, sports editor On Twitter @barosports sports@dailybarometer.com
The Daily Barometer
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