UNC Players Reach Deal in Assault

Thursday, April 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) â€” North Carolina guards Ed Cota and Terrence Newby, accused of brawling last Halloween night, agreed Thursday to perform community service and help pay medical bills in exchange for charges being dropped.

They agreed to the conditions at a hearing in Orange County court. If they stay out of trouble for 30 days, charges against them will be dropped, officials said.

Under the agreement, each will perform 10 hours of community service and help pay court fees and some of the victims' medical bills.

They were charged with three counts each of assault inflicting serious injury and two counts of simple assault after the fight on the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill campus.

Suspended from the basketball team immediately after the brawl, Cota and Newby were reinstated 10 days later by coach Bill Guthridge.

The trial on the charges was postponed four times since December. The last postponement enabled them to play in the NCAA tournament Final Four semifinals.

Cota and Newby on Thursday continued to deny involvement in the fight that broke out between students. ``We were trying to break it up,'' Cota said.

Some of the students injured in the fight disagreed and expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement, but said it was time to move on.