Referee Pleads Guilty

Mike Mathis, the last of four NBA referees indicted in an airline ticket scam pleaded guilty Friday to tax evasion.

Mathis, 54, was charged with understating income by $69,000 from 1989 through 1992. He pleaded guilty in federal court in Cincinnati to one count of filing a false tax return in 1992 and immediately resigned from the league.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my nearly 22 years of employment as a referee with the NBA,” Mathis said in a statement released by his lawyer, Terrence Grady. “And while I understand the difficult position the NBA is facing in this matter, it is my hope to resume my career with them at some point.”

Mathis admitted trading in first-class airline tickets provided by the NBA for cheaper, coach-class tickets and pocketing the difference, authorities said. He did not report the extra income on his taxes.

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Rony Seikaly said his voided trade from Orlando to Utah was nullified because of a stress fracture to his right foot, not because of a contract disagreement.

Seikaly gave his side of the aborted trade one day after being dealt to New Jersey and almost 48 hours after Utah called off its deal with Orlando.

“It would have been an honor for me to play with Karl Malone and John Stockton and to play for Jerry Sloan and [Jeff] Hornacek and all those guys,” Seikaly said. “That’s why I was surprised, and Karl knows I wanted to play with him.”

After the deal fell apart, Malone called Seikaly a “con man” and Utah owner Larry Miller said Seikaly’s side was trying to get contractual concessions.

Seikaly, his right foot in a cast, said the dispute was about his injury and nothing else.

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Minnesota Timberwolves forward Tom Gugliotta will miss the rest of the season because he needs surgery on his injured right ankle.

Gugliotta, the team’s leading scorer with 20.1 points per game, has been out since Jan. 30, when his ankle locked up in a game against the Lakers. The problem turned out to be bone spurs and bone chips in the ankle.

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Doug West reported to the Vancouver Grizzlies but the team was waiting for him to pass his physical before the trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves was official. West was traded for Anthony Peeler on Thursday. Peeler passed his physical. . . . The Seattle SuperSonics’ Detlef Schrempf, who was accidentally elbowed in the throat during practice early in the week, will miss at least three more games. . . . San Antonio’s Chuck Person was placed on the injured list because of recurrent back pain. . . . The Sacramento Kings put guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf on the injured list because of flu and activated forward Lawrence Funderburke. . . . Buck Williams of the New York Knicks underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and was placed on injured reserve. Terry Cummings, obtained Thursday in a trade with Philadelphia, is expected to be activated.

Tom Hammonds of the Minnesota Timberwolves was fined $7,500 by the NBA for a flagrant foul earlier this week against Orlando’s Derek Harper. Hammonds clotheslined Harper as he drove for the basket and Harper, who hurt his neck, was on the floor for five minutes before being carried off on a stretcher. . . . The New Jersey Nets activated forward Don MacLean from the injured list.