State sports briefs

BASKETBALL

ASU men add Croatian guard

Mario Fantina signed a letter of intent to play at Arkansas State University next season, the school announced Thursday.

Fantina, a 6-4 guard from Croatia, led KK Zadar to the Croatian Junior League finals while averaging 12.8 points, 3.8 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He went on to average 9.8 points, 3.8 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game in the ABA U19 International League.

Crass named head coach at Otero

Little Rock native Ted Crass was named head men’s basketball coach at Otero (Colo.) Junior College this week.

The Little Rock Central graduate and son of longtime War Memorial Stadium Commission president Kevin Crass, he walked on to the basketball team at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and was eventually voted as a team captain. Crass graduated from UALR in 2013 with a degree in speech communication.

Crass, 29, had been serving as assistant coach and recruiting director at Abilene Christian College since 2016. Prior to that he had worked eight seasons at UALR under coaches Steve Shields and Chris Beard.

Crass was director of player development for Beard during the 2015-16 season, when the Trojans went 30-5, won the Sun Belt Conference regular-season and tournament championships, and upset Purdue in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated.

“Without question, Coach Crass has a very bright future as a head coach at the college level,” Otero Athletic Director Chris Carrillo said in a statement. “Otero is very excited about the future success of the Otero basketball program under the leadership of Coach Crass.”