SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine dismissed as “patently false” allegations that he molested two former ball boys for years, and the university chancellor vowed Friday to “do everything in our power to find the truth.”

The school placed Fine on administrative leave “in light of the new allegations” that surfaced Thursday, just two weeks after the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal, and pending an investigation by the Syracuse City Police.

Fine, in his 35th season as an assistant on the Syracuse bench, asked for a quick review and expressed confidence he would be vindicated.

“Sadly, we live in an allegation-based society and an Internet age where in a matter of minutes one’s lifelong reputation can be severely damaged,” Fine said in a statement released by one of his attorneys. “I am confident that, as in the past, a review of these allegations will be discredited and restore my reputation. I hope the latest review of these allegations will be conducted expeditiously.”

Fine thanked Chancellor Nancy Cantor for her statement that “I should be accorded a fair opportunity to defend myself” and added: “I fully intend to do so. There should never be a rush to judgment when someone’s personal integrity and career are on the line.”

Both of Fine’s accusers are now adults. Bobby Davis, now 39, told ESPN that Fine molested him beginning in 1984 and that the sexual contact continued until he was around 27. A ball boy for six years, Davis told ESPN that the abuse occurred at Fine’s home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on team road trips, including the 1987 Final Four.

Davis’ stepbrother, Mike Lang, 45, who also was a ball boy, told ESPN that Fine molested him starting while he was in fifth or sixth grade.