Austin Peay State University’s Damarius Smith to sit for basketball season’s first half

APSU Sports Information Office

Clarksville, TN – Senior guard Damarius Smith, who started 20 games at point guard for Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team a year ago, has been suspended for the 2014-15 season’s first half for a “violation of athletic department policy.”

Smith will be forced to sit the entire non-conference schedule—14 games—but is slated to return for the Ohio Valley Conference opener, January 8th, 2015, at Jacksonville State. He will be able to practice with the team during his suspension.

“We have a standard we expected our student-athletes to adhere to and D.D. made a mistake,” APSU coach Dave Loos said. “He is going to pay a severe consequence for that mistake.

“But he has a chance to make it right during the second half of the season, during OVC play. It is up to him.”

The Governors have no less than three players in position to secure the point guard position in Smith’s absence: junior Zavion Williams, who opened 2013-14 as point guard; senior Jeremy Purvis, who walked on early in 2012-13 and immediately became the point-guard starter before sitting out last season, and freshman Tre’ Ivory, the son of former Govs’ player Willie Ivory.

In his first season as a Governor, Smith averaged 8.0 points, 5.6 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game. After beginning the season as a reserve, the Clarksville native moved into the starting lineup at point guard during the Central Michigan tournament and started the next 18 games before a severe ankle injury kept him out of multiple late-season games.