NCAA bans – The NCAA ruled four former Alabama State men’s basketball players permanently ineligible after they accepted $2,000 from bettors connected to a scheme to fix the Hornets’ Dec. 5, 2024 game against Southern Miss.
By the time Alabama State lost 81-64 to Southern Miss on Dec. 5, 2024, the outcome had already been priced—at least, according to the NCAA.
On Friday, June 5, the NCAA announced that four former Alabama State men’s basketball players have been ruled permanently ineligible for accepting payments from gamblers to manipulate a game. The players are Amarr Knox, Shawn Fulcher, Corey Hines and Tony Madlock.
The NCAA said the four accepted and were paid a total of $2,000—$500 per player—from two bettors to take part in game manipulation in that matchup.
The payments came from a period when the Hornets’ offense leaned heavily on those same names. Knox, Hines and Madlock were the top three scorers on the team that season, with each averaging at least 12.5 points per game.
Even after that loss to Southern Miss. the program’s season carried on in a way the NCAA punishment doesn’t erase: Alabama State advanced to the 2025 NCAA Tournament and won the first March Madness game in program history. beating Saint Francis 70-68 in a play-in game. In that victory, Knox scored the winning basket with a layup with one second remaining.
The NCAA’s sanctions, though, still reach forward. None of the four former Alabama State athletes played during the 2025-26 season.
The chain of events the NCAA described began with a tip sent through its enforcement channels. The NCAA said its enforcement staff had been notified by Temple in July 2025 that Hines—who had transferred to Temple after the 2024-25 season—had been contacted by the FBI and shown text messages tied to a sports integrity issue from his time with the Hornets.
At the federal level, the case around the bettors was also moving. The NCAA said the two bettors were indicted in January by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on wire fraud and bribery charges related to sports contests.
In the NCAA’s account, Knox added a key detail during the investigation: Knox told NCAA investigators that Fulcher had put other teammates in a group chat in December 2024 with one of the bettors. The bettor, Knox said, offered money to throw the game against Southern Miss the next night.
The reported sequence links the December 2024 messaging to the Dec. 5. 2024 game itself. and then to a later federal investigation—leaving behind a simple timeline: communications. payments. an identified game. and then permanent ineligibility announced years later. The NCAA’s decision also strips the future from four players who had been central to that Hornets roster.
For Alabama State. the ruling lands after a historic run that included a 70-68 play-in win over Saint Francis in the 2025 NCAA Tournament and a last-second finish by Knox. For the athletes named in the NCAA announcement. the result is immediate and final: permanent ineligibility tied to $2. 000 accepted from bettors in a scheme described by the NCAA as game manipulation.
NCAA Alabama State point shaving sports betting FBI wire fraud bribery college basketball Southern Miss Hornets