Ncaa Ruling Keeps Keep In Limbo

Jason Keep is playing the waiting game, but he’s running out of time.

Keep, the former Moscow High and North Idaho College basketball center who signed to play at Oklahoma State, has been denied certification by the NCAA Clearinghouse.

That ruling means Keep isn’t eligible to play at OSU this season. He cannot practice with the team and cannot be put on scholarship, said Rick Allen, OSU assistant athletic director for compliance.

However, OSU has submitted a waiver asking the NCAA to review Keep’s situation, Allen said. Problem is, it may take weeks for the NCAA to respond and classes at OSU start Monday.

“I can’t speak for the NCAA, but I can only imagine at this time of the year they’re getting waivers from all over the country,” Allen said. “I think it’s realistic that we might not get a response for three or four weeks.”

Keep is left in a bind. He said his family has hired a lawyer to check into the matter.

He’s not going to Stillwater until he’s certain he can play, Keep said. “It’s a little stressful.”

The NCAA Clearinghouse ruled two of Keep’s classes at Moscow High don’t count as core courses, Keep’s mother, Diana, said. “They are core classes but the Clearinghouse doesn’t want to say they are core classes. I guess they didn’t like the name of them.

“It’s a big mess. The reason it has gone down to the last minute is because the coaches looked everything over and thought he was fine,” she added.

Keep has been lifting weights and playing pick-up basketball games. If he doesn’t attend OSU, he expects to return to NIC.

Idaho recently signed Justin Logan, a 6-foot guard from Bishop O’Dowd High in Oakland, Calif.

Logan joins two high schoolers, point guard Lance Buoncristiana and 6-9 forward Chris Monroe, at Idaho. The Vandals also signed junior-college transfers William Gates, 6-7 forward from Butler County (El Dorado, Kan.); Matt Gerschefske, 6-6 swingman from Southwest Missouri-West Plains; and Lennox McCoy, guard from Indian Hills (Ottumwa, Iowa).

Gates and Gerschefske each have three years of eligibility.

Women’s boxing

Jennifer Price, 16, from Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene, lost to Luckie Essari in the 125-pound finals of the inaugural Women’s National Golden Gloves boxing tournament in Augusta, Ga.

Price, formerly from Cheney, won her opening bout against Amber Claussen, from Nebraska, on Thursday to earn a berth in the title bout.

Tennis

Washington State’s Erica Perkins, a junior from Seattle, advanced through the first three rounds of the 1999 Collegiate Summer Circuit National Tennis Championships in Williamsburg, Va., before losing in the quarterfinals.

Perkins, seeded sixth in the 64-draw tournament, defeated Jerath Nivedita of Harvard by default in the first round, and Jennifer Garvey of Ferris State, 6-2, 6-0, in the second. She then knocked off Allison Ojeda of Tennessee, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, before falling to third-seeded Julie Ditty of Vanderbilt, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3).

The USTA tournament ends Sunday. The men’s and women’s singles and doubles winners receive a wild-card entry into the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament next month in New York, as well as a main draw berth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Clay Court Championships this fall.