New Mexico St. halts program

New Mexico State indefinitely suspended its men’s basketball program Friday night in a virtually unheard of move that the university says is unrelated to a fatal shooting involving one of its players last year.

The school also placed first-year coach Greg Heiar and his staff on administrative leave for what it said were violations of university policy and separate from the Nov. 19 shooting of a student from rival University of New Mexico. Aggies forward Mike Peake was suspended in early December while a third-party investigator looks into his involvement in the shooting.

Shortly after the shooting, Heiar loaded the team onto a bus and left town, minus Peake and three players who had picked him up and taken him to the hospital with leg injuries. Police stopped the bus on its way back to the school’s campus, three hours south in Las Cruces.

Peake has not been charged in the shooting.

The school’s announcement said Friday’s move was not related to the shooting and its aftermath.

UT Arlington fires Young: UT Arlington fired second-year head coach Greg Young with six games left in the regular season.

Royce Johnson was named interim head coach for the Mavericks (9-16, 4-8 WAC), who play their next game Wednesday at Sam Houston. They are in their first season playing in the Western Athletic Conference and made their only NCAA Tournament appearance 15 years ago.

Young’s departure from the program was announced Friday, a day after a 64-58 win at UT-Rio Grande Valley.

He was 20-34 as head coach.