Tcu Player Suspended
Texas Christian center Lee Nailon was suspended for one game after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge for hitting his girlfriend, coach Billy Tubbs said Thursday.
Nailon, the NCAA’s fourth-leading scorer at 25.3 points per game, will miss Saturday night’s game at San Diego State.
Marti Bell told police that on Jan. 6 Nailon attempted to choke her, hit her in the face and threw her into a wall of his dormitory room, where she also had been living.
Bell said Nailon then called a TCU coach. Assistants Brian Fish and Steve McClain came to the dorm room to talk to them, urging her not to contact police, she told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The 18-year-old Bell filed her complaint four days later.
On Wednesday, County Criminal Judge Mamie Bush Johnson sentenced Nailon to one year of adjudicated probation and ordered him to attend anger-control counseling and pay $165 in court costs. He could have been jailed for one year and fined $4,000 for the Class A misdemeanor. A prosecutor said the punishment was typical for a first-time offender.
Tubbs said the 6-foot-9 junior from South Bend, Ind., would also face further team punishment, although he declined to be specific.
Nailon set the school’s single-game scoring record last month with a 53-point night against Mississippi Valley State.