Marijuana offense prompts Jasper to leave school

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A rash of injuries has hindered Manhattan College men’s basketball team so far this season. After appearing in the last three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship games — winning two of them — the Manhattan injury bug has cut deeply into the depth of its roster.

Head coach Steve Masiello has been forced to dress as little as six and as many as nine players out of the potential 14 for much of the season so far. At almost every post-game press conference, he fields questions about how players like senior star Shane Richards are coping with the lack of a rotation and overuse on the court.

“The game is changed, in the sense that as coaches we got to watch what we do with injuries,” Masiello said recently. “How much we push, look into things… Some [of the injuries] seem like they’re going to be some time and others seem more of the nagging type. We haven’t been able to practice [regularly].

“We only have five or six bodies,” he continued. “We’re bringing in [former Jaspers player] Rhamel Brown to practice. It’s what it is. I’m trying, hoping we can get back. I’m trusting the training staff to do what we need to do to get guys back, but I just go on with what I’m told.”

One player Masiello hoped to count on is now former student-athlete Jermaine Lawrence. Lawrence is not a former Jasper because he has transferred or graduated. He withdrew from Manhattan after finding out he would be suspended for half of the season.

The school told the 6-foot-10-inch Lawrence in September, when he tested positive for marijuana, that he would only miss the Nov. 9 exhibition game against Adelphi and that he would be enrolled in the drug counseling and treatment program at St. John’s Riverside Hospital.

ESPN reported on a Sept. 4 letter that the school sent to Lawrence. The document reportedly stated that a second failed drug test would result in a 50 percent reduction to his athletic scholarship.

Background disputed

Manhattan College Basketball, NCAA Men's Basketball, Jermaine Lawrence, Steve Masiello, Jonathan Reyes
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