CLEVELAND - One of two former college basketball players who robbed Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia of $44,000 in cash and jewelry in 2002 has been freed after serving 19 months of a four-year prison sentence.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joseph D. Russo ordered the release Monday of Jamaal Harris. He said Harris had been a model prisoner.

The judge refused to release Harris' teammate at Cleveland State University, Damon Stringer, from the remainder of his four-year term. The judge said Stringer's involvement in a prison fight showed he wasn't ready for release.

Harris and Stringer pleaded guilty to robbing Sabathia at gunpoint at a Cleveland hotel party.

Stringer and Harris, who had been teammates at Cleveland Heights High School, were pursuing professional basketball careers in Europe before the holdup.

Stringer also played basketball at Ohio State but left the Buckeyes because of legal troubles. He was selected Ohio Mr. Basketball in 1995 as the top prep player in the state.