Syracuse plays at home for first time since coach's firing

Closer look at Syracuse sex abuse probeThree accusers have stepped forwardBernie Fine's wife declines to make a comment about the tape MondaySyracuse fired Fine on Sunday 

Syracuse, New York (CNN) -- Syracuse University's basketball team will hit the court Tuesday night in its first home game since assistant coach Bernie Fine was fired over allegations that he sexually abused boys.

The Orange, undefeated this season, are set to play against Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. without Fine, who is now the subject of two investigations: one in Syracuse, that involves two boys; and a second in Pittsburgh.

Fine served as the Orange's assistant coach for 35 years -- the longest such streak for an assistant coach in Division I basketball until the university fired him Sunday, saying they were "shaken" by the allegations.

When the allegations first surfaced, Fine -- married with a son and two daughters -- called them "patently false." Since then, he has not commented.

His wife, too, has been silent even after she was dragged into the scandal this week with the release of a 2002 phone conversation she had with one of the victims, Syracuse ball boy Bobby Davis.

Laurie Fine's nephew had said she would release a statement refuting the implications of the recording. Reached at home Monday night, she declined to comment when asked when the statement would come.

The tape, made public Sunday by the Syracuse-based Post-Standard newspaper and ESPN, appears to show Laurie Fine knew about her husband's alleged sexual abuse.

In the tape, the woman that ESPN, citing experts, identified as Laurie Fine said she knew "everything that went on" with her husband, adding that "he thinks he's above the law."

"Bernie has issues ... and you trusted somebody you shouldn't," the woman said, speaking to Davis.

The woman appears to acknowledge an inappropriate sexual relationship between Davis and Bernie Fine, saying, "It's just wrong and you were a kid." She also said that her husband should "find (himself) a gay boy, get your rocks off."

Matt Govendo, Laurie Fine's nephew, said Monday that even though the voice on the tape is his aunt's, the sections of the tape made public "are all tampered with."

Govendo also said that Davis had threatened his aunt with the release of 200 minutes of audio recordings because the Fines had cut off support to him "after 15 years of leaching off them, eating their food, living there."

CNN could not locate Davis for comment Monday.

Multiple telephone messages left with Davis' stepbrother Mike Lang, who also has accused Bernie Fine of abuse, were not returned Monday.

On Sunday, another man -- Zachary Tomaselli, now 23 -- said he also was abused by Fine while in a hotel room in Pittsburgh, where he'd gone to watch a Syracuse game.

That alleged incident prompted Pittsburgh police to launch the second investigation.

The alleged abuse happened about a decade ago, when he traveled by himself a few months after he'd met Fine, Tomaselli said.

He claimed that the coach "put his hand down my shorts," adding Fine allegedly did so "four or five times."

"I did jerk away a little bit initially, but he (Fine) just said, 'It's OK, it's OK,'" Tomaselli said Monday.

Tomaselli himself is facing gross sexual assault charges related to a 2009 incident, according to information from the Maine State Bureau of Investigation.

His father, Fred Tomaselli, said that while he and his son sat in "nose-bleed" seats during Syracuse games, they'd never met Fine. Moreover, he said the boy never stayed overnight in a hotel room with Fine, nor had he ever been brought to Pittsburgh or gone to a game there.

The father said that Zachary Tomaselli's allegation is completely "100% false," suggesting that his son needed help and calling him a "master manipulator." The father and son are estranged.

CNN's Gary Tuchman, Susan Candiotti and Ross Levitt in New York, and Deborah Feyerick and Sheila Steffen in Syracuse contributed to this report.

Source: CNN