The four LIU-Brooklyn basketball players suspended for their role in an on-campus brawl Sept. 14 and subsequent arrests will know their fate on Wednesday, The Post has learned.
Returning leading scorers C.J. Garner, NEC Player of the Year Julian Boyd and Jamal Olasewere, along with Troy Joseph, were charged with third-degree assault and suspended for the incident that left five people bruised and bloodied.
“The four students have submitted appeals to their suspensions,” LIU-Brooklyn spokesperson Brian Harmon told The Post in an e-mail. “The university will carefully consider their appeals and make a determination by Wednesday of next week, Oct. 10.”
An LIU source said that provost Gale Stevens Haynes was fed up with the actions of the players, and wouldn’t be surprised if the players were expelled next week.
“Behavior that jeopardizes the security of our students is unacceptable,” she said in a statement at the time.
They allegedly sparked the fight, witnesses told The Post then, barging into a party in a campus lounge shirtless. After an initial altercation with track-team members, fists flew again after the general manager of the school radio station took to the stage and urged party-goers to tone it down, witnesses said. Garner allegedly confronted the radio manager, sparking the melee.
The four pleaded not guilty to assault, menacing and harassment and were released without bail. All four deny “the things they’re accused of doing,” their attorney, David Cohen, said.
First-year LIU coach Jack Perri declined comment. Former LIU coach Jim Ferry, now the head coach at Duquesne who recruited the playersand won two Northeast Conference crowns with them, said they were exemplary citizens as far as he knew.
“They were pretty good kids; I think pretty good leaders on campus,” Ferry said.
Boyd and Olasewere have been a major part of the Blackbirds’ success, which includes a 38-4 conference record the last two years and a pair of NCAA Tournament berths. The 6-foot-7 Boyd, a San Antonio, Tex., native, received AP honorable mention All-American status last winter in addition to his conference award. Olasewere, a Maryland product, was named to the All-NEC first team.
If the players aren’t allowed to return, LIU’s chances of three-peating in the NEC will take a major hit.