On Dec. 7, in the final Emerson home sporting event before winter break, the men’s basketball team defeated reigning Division 3 national champion Amherst College in a 90-79 victory before a packed crowd in the Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym.
In that game, 6-foot-6 forward Austin Pinckney, a junior transfer from Division 2 Northwood University in West Palm Beach, Fla., played his eighth game as a Lion and racked up an impressive 13 points, seven rebounds, and three assists.
After playing the third-most minutes on the team in the Lions’ landmark win over the Jeffs, and participating in the remaining fall semester practices, Pinckney was named academically ineligible after fall grades were tallied. He has not been able to dress for any practices or games so far in the spring semester.
Pinckney, who could not be reached by the Beacon, had just completed his first semester at Emerson. No timetable for his return has been made public.
Third-year head coach Jim O’Brien said he was informed about Pinckney’s academic situation in the last week of 2013, a few days before his squad’s spring schedule of games began. (CQ)
O’Brien and co-captains Jon Goldberg and Eli Kell-Abrams declined to comment further on the situation.
Assistant sports editor Mike Lucas did not edit this article because he is a member of the men’s basketball team.