Sports briefs for February 12, 2004

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004 | 10:42 a.m.

A season of embarrassing incidents have moved St. John's president Rev. Donald Harrington to say he might recommend suspending the school's basketball program if it can't remain scandal-free.

"I would go to the board (of trustees) and say, 'It's now my conviction we can't do it,' " if the program's troubles persist, Harrington told the Daily News for today's editions. "The university's values and mission are too important."

The school's chief spokesman, Jody Fisher, said today, however, that there hadn't been any consideration of dropping the program.

"In no way, shape or form," Fisher said.

On Wednesday, guard Elijah Ingram withdrew from the university, a week after he and five teammates broke curfew to go to a strip club.

Ingram, a sophomore who led the team in scoring, left on the same day the St. John's judicial board suspended teammate Abe Keita from school for one year.

A third teammate, Grady Reynolds, was expelled from St. John's last week. Two other players were suspended from the team but remained in school, while another still faced unspecified lesser discipline.

In early December, senior guard Willie Shaw, suspended after being arrested for possession of marijuana, was dismissed from the team.

UNLV aide joins Bears

UNLV offensive coordinator Rob Boras was hired by the Chicago Bears to coach the team's tight ends. Boras, 33, a native of Glen Ellyn, Ill., was one of the three remaining assistant coaches from John Robinson's original staff of UNLV assistants.

UNLV's Nehles cited

UNLV sophmore Henner Nehles was named Mountain West Conference men's player of the week. He was 2-0 at No. 1 singles last week in matches at 26th-ranked Tulane and 75th-ranked New Orleans.

Glazier keeps buying

Tampa Bay Bucs owner Malcolm Glazier upped his stake in Manchester United to 16.31 percent. He has been buying shares in England's most famous club since October.

Sutter saluted

Chicago Blackhawks coach Brian Sutter was given the NHL Milestone Award for becoming the 10th man in league history to coach 1,000 games.

More Wrigley nights

City council approved the Chicago Cubs request to increase their number of night games at Wrigley Field from 18 to 30 per season by 2006.