N.C. State assistant implicated in scandal

A government witness at a college basketball corruption trial testified Thursday that he made a secret $40,000 payment to the inner circle of a North Carolina State recruit through an assistant coach at the school.

Testifying in federal court in Manhattan, self-described recruitment facilitator Thomas “T.J.” Gassnola told a jury he delivered the money in cash to the coach, Orlando Early, on a trip to Raleigh, N.C., in 2015. He said the coach told him he was going to give it to a personal trainer for highly touted point guard Dennis Smith Jr. as way to get it to Smith’s family.

Business manager Christian Dawkins, former amateur coach Merl Code and former Adidas executive James Gatto have pleaded not guilty to defrauding various colleges by concealing the use of under-the-table payments of up to $100,000 from Adidas in exchange for commitments to programs that were seen as a path to big NBA paydays.

Gassnola, 46, a former Adidas consultant who has pleaded guilty, continued to drop notable names during his second day on the witness stand.

He said that while working under the direction of Gatto, he paid out $15,000 in cash in 2015 to try to lure Deandre Ayton to an Adidas school only to see him sign with Nike-sponsored Arizona.

Wisconsin receiver Quintez Cephus pleaded not guilty to charges alleging that he sexually assaulted two drunken women in his apartment this year. Cephus entered the plea to charges of second- and third-degree sexual assault in Madison.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo insisted he was never part of an effort to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct within the school’s athletic department. The Hall of Famer says the idea that he would be involved “makes me sick.”

Running back Morgan Ellison may have played his last down at Indiana after a university panel determined he sexually assaulted a female student. The conclusions of the panel were first reported by the Indianapolis Star.