Hamline coach suspended in wake of incident in Spokane

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Hamline University has suspended basketball coach Nelson Whitmore indefinitely after a player was accused of punching a woman.

The St. Paul school also forfeited today's game at Gustavus Adolphus and said 14 students face discipline.

KSTP-TV reported this week that Hamline forward Eugene Lawrence III was arrested in Spokane while on a team trip to play Whitworth University. Lawrence was charged with second-degree assault for allegedly hitting a woman in the face at the team hotel.

Lawrence posted a $5,000 bond and was released from custody.

In a statement, Hamline said Lawrence has been dismissed from the team and is suspended from the university pending a hearing.

Whitmore is in his sixth season as the Pipers' head coach. Messages left after-hours at his office were not immediately returned Friday.

Lawrence appeared in Spokane County Superior Court on Wednesday on a second-degree assault charge.

Steve Bray, of Portland, Ore., said his 20-year-old daughter, Kayla, was visiting another Hamline player she knew from high school at the team's hotel on New Year's Eve. Bray says his daughter got in an argument with Lawrence at the hotel. He's accused of punching her in the face and knocking her to the floor.

KSTP-TV reported Kayla Bray was released from the hospital Wednesday evening following surgery for a broken jaw.