California starter Omondi Amoke booted by coach

BERKELEY, Calif. — California starting forward Omondi Amoke has been suspended indefinitely by coach Mike Montgomery for a violation of team rules, a blow for the eighth-seeded Golden Bears heading into their NCAA opener against No. 7 Louisville on Friday in Jacksonville, Fla.

The school provided no further details about what the 6-foot-7 sophomore did to be suspended. Cal is coming off its first Pac-10 regular-season title in 50 years.

Amoke moved into the starting lineup late in the season and had started 14 games total. He was averaging 4.8 points and 4.6 rebounds.

Montgomery has not announced his starting lineup for Friday, but it's likely either 6-7 Markhuri Sanders-Frison or 7-2 ¼ Max Zhang will start upfront alongside Jamal Boykin.

Louisville's front line features 6-9, 260-pound Samardo Samuels and 6-10 Terrence Jennings.

Boston defeats

Oregon State

CORVALLIS, Ore. — John Holland had 26 points and five rebounds as Boston rolled to a 96-78 win against Oregon State in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational at Gill Coliseum.

Carlos Strong added 22 points and Tyler Morris 18 points for the Terriers (20-13), who celebrated their first postseason victory since 1959 and their first 20-win season since 2004-05.

Jared Cunningham had 21 points for Oregon State (14-18), the 2009 CBI champion.

Boston advances to play Morehead State in a quarterfinal March 22. Morehead State won 74-60 at Colorado State on Wednesday.

Boston used a 17-2 first-half run to take a 37-19 lead. The Terriers led by as many as 21 in the first half and 46-27 at halftime. They went up by as many as 28 in the second half.

Boston shot 38 of 67 (56.7 percent) from the floor, including 12 of 32 from three-point range. The Terriers have 13 games this season with 10 or more three-pointers, including five of the past six.

Holland, a 6-5 junior and two-time America East Conference first-team selection, shot 11 of 16 and was 4 of 9 on three-pointers.

Oregon State shot 24 of 56 (42.9 percent), including 9 of 25 in the first half.

The Terriers' 96 points were a season high for Boston and the second-most allowed by Oregon State this season.

Notes

• Fed up by his antics on and off the court, Seton Hall fired coach Bobby Gonzalez after a 19-win season. The dismissal came roughly 12 hours after the coach known as "Gonzo" endured an 87-69 loss in the opening round of the NIT, a game in which Seton Hall forward Herb Pope was ejected for hitting a Texas Tech player below the belt and Gonzalez picked up his seventh technical of the season.

• U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan pushed a proposal to bar teams from postseason play if they fail to graduate 40 percent of their players, an idea that didn't go over well with the NCAA and coaches preparing for March Madness. If put into practice this year, a dozen teams in the NCAA tournament would be ineligible, including Washington (29 percent), Kentucky (31) and California (20).

• Fred Hill is getting another chance to turn around the Rutgers program. Athletic director Tim Pernetti said Hill will return for a fifth season. Rutgers went 15-17 this year, giving Hill a 47-77 mark. The Scarlet Knights' 5-13 record in Big East play was their best under Hill.