College Basketball

A Los Angeles ticket broker says he bought more than 100 sets of Final Four tickets from a University of Nevada Las Vegas source in Indianapolis last spring, despite a scarcity of available tickets.

The Las Vegas Sun reported that the broker, who requested anonymity, said the tickets were bought from Sean Foster, student manager of the basketball team. Foster told the Sun that he got the tickets from Debbie Barrentine, UNLV’s ticket manager.

The Rebels won the national title by beating Duke in the Final Four in Denver in 1990, then lost to the same team in a 1991 semifinal game in Indianapolis. Because of charges of ticket abuse during the 1990 event, a new distribution system had been devised.

UNLV boosters had to qualify through a complex point system to buy tickets for the 1991 Final Four. Even UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian said he was unable to get tickets for some friends because of the new system. His wife, Lois, said she approached Barrentine to buy extra tickets but was told she couldn’t get any.

Barrentine was unavailable for comment, but UNLV legal counsel Brad Booke, who spoke with Barrentine, said she admitted selling Foster as many as 40 sets of Final Four tickets.