Two former Fresno State basketball players said they accepted cash and other benefits from sports agents in violation of NCAA rules, The Fresno Bee reported Sunday.

Tito Maddox said in an interview that he accepted an estimated $30,000 from relatives of a Las Vegas sports agent during the 2000-01 season, The Bee reported. And Terrance Roberson told the newspaper he accepted at least several hundred dollars from middleman Nate Cebrun during the 1999-2000 season.

The admission supports Cebrun’s account that he funneled money from a Las Vegas sports agent to Roberson throughout the season.

In addition, The Bee reported it has obtained a document supporting Cebrun’s allegation that he used a money order to send $300 to Roberson in February 2000.

Both cases violate NCAA rules, which prohibit student-athletes from receiving extra benefits.

If the allegations are affirmed by the NCAA, Fresno State could face penalties that include forfeiture of victories during the seasons in which the players participated; the return of money accrued from NCAA Tournament appearances; and scholarship reductions. It also could put the program on probation.

Fresno State president John Welty and athletic director Scott Johnson told the newspaper they were aware, as part of the NCAA’s letter of inquiry issued this summer, that at least two players had accepted money and extra benefits from sports agencies.

“We have been working with the NCAA on these issues,” said Welty, who refused to identify the players. “Once the investigation is finished, we will take appropriate action.”

Welty and Johnson said they believed the NCAA investigation would conclude in early 2003. The NCAA would neither confirm nor deny to the Bee that it is investigating the program.

Kansas University athletic director Al Bohl worked at Fresno State from 1996 to 2001.

“I would not have any comment on that. I’ve not seen it,” Bohl said Sunday night of the Fresno report.

Bohl when he was at Fresno prior to the 2000-01 season handed Maddox an eight-game NCAA sanctioned suspension for accepting a free plane ticket from a longtime friend, deemed a runner for a sports agency.

“I am not at Fresno State now. I do know all the time I was there we worked dilegently with the NCAA,” Bohl said.