In the face of strong public reaction against the sex abuse scandal at Penn State, Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim strongly defended his longtime assistant, who is facing accusations of sexually assaulting two ball boys.



Syracuse police told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" Thursday they are investigating allegations that assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine molested the ball boys — one of them for more than a dozen years beginning in the mid-1980s.



Police stressed to the news program that they are in the early stages of the investigation, which comes on the heels of the devastating child sex abuse case focusing on former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.



The first alleged Syracuse victim to come forward, Bobby Davis, now 39, told "Outside the Lines" that Fine molested him beginning in 1983 shortly before Davis entered the seventh grade. Davis, the team's ball boy for six years beginning in 1984, said the abuse occurred at Fine's home, at the Syracuse basketball facilities and on road trips, including at the 1987 Final Four.



In addition, a second man — Davis' stepbrother, Mike Lang, who also was a ball boy for several years — told "OTL" in recent days that he was also molested by Fine around the same time as Davis.



Police told ESPN theywere going to interview both accusers.



Davis and Lang said they felt compelled to come forward after watching national media coverage of the Sandusky case. In interviews with ESPN, they described encounters with Fine that included him reaching into their shorts and rubbing their genitals.



Fine, who was placed on administrative leave by chancellor Nancy Cantor, is now in his 35th season as an assistant to head coach Boeheim.



In a statement released Thursday, Boeheim said, "This matter was fully investigated by the University in 2005 and it was determined that the allegations were unfounded. I have known Bernie Fine for more than 40 years. I have never seen or witnessed anything to suggest that he would have been involved in any of the activities alleged. Had I seen or suspected anything, I would have taken action. Bernie has my full support."



Davis said Boeheim would see him lying in Fine's bed on road trips but that he never told Boeheim about the alleged abuse.



Boeheim told ESPN Thursday: "I know this kid (Davis), but I never saw him in any rooms or anything. It is a bunch of a thousand lies that he has told. You don't think it is a little funny that his cousin (relative) is coming forward?



"He supplied four names to the university that would corroborate his story. None of them did....There is only one side to this story. He is lying."



Boeheim added of the accusers: "I believe they are looking for money. I believe they saw what happened at Penn State and they are using ESPN to get money."



Syracuse did not waste much time addressing the ESPN report. Kevin Quinn, Syracuse's senior vice president for public affairs, issued the following statement early Thursday evening:



"In 2005, Syracuse University was contacted by an adult male who told us that he had reported to the Syracuse City Police that he had been subjected to inappropriate contact by an associate men's basketball coach. The alleged activity took place in the 1980s and 1990s. We were informed by the complainant that the Syracuse City Police had declined to pursue the matter because the statute of limitations had expired.



"On hearing of the allegations in 2005, the University immediately launched its own comprehensive investigation through its legal counsel. That nearly four-month long investigation included a number of interviews with people the complainant said would support his claims. All of those identified by the complainant denied any knowledge of wrongful conduct by the associate coach. The associate coach also vehemently denied the allegations.



"Syracuse University takes any allegation of this sort extremely seriously and has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind. If any evidence or corroboration of the allegations had surfaced, we would have terminated the associate coach and reported it to the police immediately.



Davis told "Outside the Lines" he was molested by Fine until he was around 27 years old. He said he reported the abuse to Syracuse police in 2003, but that a detective told him the statute of limitations had run out. Davis said he told the detective that he thought other boys were being molested but that he had only direct knowledge of Fine molesting him.



At the time, the Syracuse police chief was Dennis Duval, a former Syracuse basketball player for Boeheim. Duval, who retired in 2004, could not be reached for comment. He played at Syracuse from 1971 to 1974, and started with the Syracuse Police Department in 1978.



"Outside the Lines" investigated Davis' story in 2003 but decided not to run it because there were no other victims who would talk and there was no independent evidence to corroborate the boy's story.

The Syracuse Post-Standard also investigated the allegations in 2003 and has continued to work on the story.



"I'm shocked by this," said Sam Albano, the former producer of the "Inside the Big East" television show who has known Fine for more than 30 years. "He always seemed like a good lieutenant who always represented the university well.



"If this is true, it is devastating."