At least 20 people allegedly colluded with known gamblers to fix basketball games, according to a federal indictment filed Thursday.

The indictment filed in Philadelphia cites charges of “bribery in sporting contests” and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, to fix men’s college and Chinese professional basketball games.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced the sweeping indictment that involves players from 17 college teams from 2022 through 2025. The scheme also involved two gamblers — Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley — who were indicted in October for their alleged role in an NBA sports gambling scheme that included Miami Heat star Terry Rozier.

The most prominent player indicted Thursday was Antonio Blakeney, the leading scorer at Louisiana State in 2016-2017 and a veteran of two seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The shooting guard has played for professional teams in China, Israel and Bahrain since last playing in the NBA in 2019.

According to the indictment, the scheme began with attempts in the 2022–23 season to fix games in the Chinese Basketball Association. Blakeney, who played for the Jiangsu Dragons and led the league in scoring with 32.1 points a game, is alleged to have been recruited by Hennen and Fairley to shave points.

Hennen and Fairley were included in the indictment along with others who worked as AAU coaches or personal trainers and recruited players to shave points, often in the first halves of games. Prop bets — wagers on specific events or occurrences within a game that aren’t tied to the final score — also were placed on certain outcomes based on the agreements with players. Payments of as much as $20,000 were made to players, the indictment alleges.

“Protecting competition integrity is of the utmost importance for the NCAA. We are thankful for law enforcement agencies working to detect and combat integrity issues and match manipulation in college sports,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement Thursday. “The pattern of college basketball game integrity conduct revealed by law enforcement today is not entirely new information to the NCAA. Through helpful collaboration and with industry regulators, we have finished or have open investigations into almost all of the teams in today’s indictment.”

Colleges under investigation include DePaul, Saint Louis, La Salle, Eastern Michigan, Robert Morris, Fordham, Buffalo, Tulane, Northwestern (La.) State, Nicholls State, Southern Mississippi, North Carolina A&T, Kennesaw State, Coppin State, New Orleans, Abilene Christian and Alabama State.

The indictment estimates the gamblers conspired with as many as 39 players across those 17 Division I teams to fix games.

“Our enforcement staff has opened sports betting integrity investigations into approximately 40 student-athletes from 20 schools over the past year,” Baker said. “While some of the investigations are ongoing, 11 student-athletes from seven schools were recently found to have bet on their own performances, shared information with known bettors, and/or engaged in game manipulation to collect on bets they—or others—placed. This behavior resulted in a permanent loss of NCAA eligibility for all of them.

“Additionally, 13 student-athletes from eight schools were found to have failed to cooperate in the sports betting integrity investigation by providing false or misleading information, failing to provide relevant documentation and/or refusing to be interviewed by the enforcement staff. None of them are competing today.”

At least four of the players charged are currently active: Simeon Cottle of Kennesaw State, Camian Shell of Delaware State, Carlos Hart of Eastern Michigan and Oumar Koureissi of Texas Southern. Cottle, in fact, scored 21 points Wednesday night in Kennesaw State’s victory over Florida International and is the leading scorer in Conference USA.

Baker said the NCAA tries to root out sports betting violations through a “layered integrity monitoring program” that covers more than 20,000 games, but admits the organization can’t do it alone.

“We still need the remaining states, regulators and gaming companies to eliminate threats to integrity — such as collegiate prop bets — to better protect athletes and leagues from integrity risks and predatory bettors,” he said. “We also will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement. We urge all student-athletes to make well-informed choices to avoid jeopardizing the game and their eligibility.”

Mike Tomlin’s decision to step away after a blowout AFC wild-card loss pushed the Steelers into an uncharacteristic coaching search.

Tomlin did not specify a reason for stepping away in a statement released Tuesday, but he thanked owner Art Rooney II and the late Ambassador Dan Rooney for their trust over nearly two decades. 

“While this chapter comes to a close, my respect and love for the Pittsburgh Steelers will never change. I am excited for what the future holds for this organization, and I will forever be grateful for my time coaching in Pittsburgh,” Tomlin said in the statement.

Rooney II and Omar Khan will oversee the coaching search. Rooney called Tomlin’s decision unexpected but not surprising.

“It was his decision, and I will say that I wasn’t shocked, but I wasn’t expecting that conversation yesterday either,” Rooney said. “I was certainly willing to take another run at it next year with Mike, and that was what I was expecting to talk about yesterday, but it went in another direction.”

2026 NFL COACHING/GM TRACKER: STEELERS REQUEST FIRST HC INTERVIEWS AFTER TOMLIN DEPARTURE

Tomlin has two years left on his Steelers contract, and any team seeking to hire him before 2027 would need to compensate Pittsburgh. Rooney acknowledged the slim prospects of Tomlin coaching later this year and provided additional context on his departure, saying it was centered on his personal life.

“Mike indicated that he did not anticipate coaching in the near future,” Rooney said. “I think he wants to spend time with his family and do the things he hasn’t been able to do for the last many years. So, if something like that comes up, we’ll deal with it when it comes up, but it doesn’t seem like something on his radar.”

Rooney said he, Khan and other key decision-makers will take an open-minded approach to the rare coaching search.

“I’ve been involved in a number of searches going back to coach [Bill] Cowher and GM searches,” Rooney said as he recalled past coaching search experiences. “I think if I’ve learned anything about searches it’s to have an open mind. We had Mike in for his first interview, certainly wasn’t expecting him to be our head coach. I think you go through the process and be diligent and hopefully come out with the right guy.” 

When asked about the qualities he will look for in candidates, Rooney said leadership is at the top of the list.

“I think there are a lot of things that go into being a successful head coach,” Rooney said. “No. 1 in my mind is leadership and trusting this person can step up in front of the team day in and day out and hold their attention and have them motivated to do what they do. That’s the most important.”

After defeating the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18 to clinch the AFC North and the final spot in the NFL playoffs, the Steelers scored just six points in Monday’s loss to the Houston Texans.

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“Extra pass.”

Cleveland High coach Dagem Asfaw was yelling to his players at the end of the first half during a timeout to stop playing selfish basketball and start making the “extra pass.”

They listened in the second half Wednesday, and the Cavaliers took off, blowing out Granada Hills 72-47. The first three baskets in the third quarter were threes off passes. It’s clear that Cleveland (11-6, 1-0) has the most talented team in the West Valley League and the only question is will the players decide to find the open man. When they do, it’s doubtful any team will beat them.

Sophomore Sho Evans finished with 17 points and made four threes. Serigne Deme had 11 of his 13 points in the first quarter and finished with four dunks. TJ Wansa scored 13 points, all in the second half. Cleveland led by nine points at halftime.

Birmingham 75, Taft 57: Tekeio Phillips had 19 points and Charles Eleri 16 for the Patriots (10-4, 1-0) in their West Valley opener.

El Camino Real 55, Chatsworth 53: The Royals pulled out the win. Aarsh Singh, Aaron Krueger and Chris Rutherford each scored 11 points for Chatsworth.

Fairfax 66, Westchester 64: The Western League rivalry game goes to the Lions. Domonick Bowie Jr. had 16 points and Chris Stokes 15.

Palisades 87, Hamilton 48: The Dolphins had four players reach double figures. Jack Levey and EJ Popoola each had 22 points, Phillip Reed 19 and OJ Popoola 16.

San Pedro 74, Carson 50: Elias Redlew finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the 16-4 Pirates. AJ Bobich added 16 points.

Los Alamitos 57, Newport Harbor 40: Isaiah Williamson contributed 15 points for the Griffins.

Calabasas 64, Oaks Christian 62: The Coyotes handed Oaks Christian its first Marmonte League defeat in double overtime. Noah Simon made a three-point shot at the buzzer of the second overtime, his only points of the night. Tristan Cardoso and Johnny Thyfault each scored 16 points.

Verbum Dei 80, Bosco Tech 64: Sophomore Chase Coleman scored 20 points for Verbum Dei.

Girls basketball

Harvard-Westlake 42, Louisville 23: Valentina Guerrero, back from injury, scored 13 points for the Wolverines.

Sierra Canyon 79, Marlborough 31: Jerzy Robinson contributed 29 points and 10 rebounds for Sierra Canyon.

Birmingham 65, Taft 28: Kayla Tanijiri led the way for the Patriots with 15 points and Laecy Wilkins had 14 points.