Rebels suspend Lawrence after accident, DUI charge
PROVO, Utah — UNLV sophomore guard Marcus Lawrence was charged with driving under the influence after a one-vehicle accident Friday morning in Las Vegas, and he was suspended from the team.
Lawrence, 20, remained in the Clark County Detention Center on Friday night. Bail was set at $2,200.
Lawrence missed the Rebels’ 10 a.m. practice Friday and was suspended before the team boarded a late-afternoon flight to Salt Lake City for today’s Mountain West Conference game at Brigham Young.
“I’m disappointed for Marcus,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. “We don’t know too much about it at this point.”
Kruger said he spoke to the player’s mother, Carmen Lawrence, but was waiting to hear more details of the incident.
Before deciding on potential further disciplinary action, Kruger said, “We’ll get home and gather information and sit down with the administration.”
Lawrence’s future in the program is in jeopardy after his second suspension of the season. The Bishop Gorman High School graduate sat out the team’s exhibition game and regular-season opener in early November for academic reasons.
Lawrence, a backup point guard who has played in 23 of the Rebels’ 24 games, has averages of 1.4 points and 2.3 assists.
Trooper Kevin Honea, a spokesman for the Nevada Highway Patrol, said Lawrence was arrested at about 7:30 a.m. Friday near McCarran International Airport. He said Lawrence was driving southbound on the airport connector to eastbound 215.
“It was a single-vehicle crash,” Honea said. “We started getting calls from witnesses and passersby who said the driver of the vehicle was fleeing on foot.”
Honea said troopers were sent to the area, where they found a suspect matching Lawrence’s description. The vehicle was on its side, but Lawrence was not injured.
“It was not his car,” Honea said.
Lawrence was transported to the Clark County Detention Center at about 8:30 a.m., Honea said. Lawrence was charged with driving under the influence and failure to drive in a travel lane and has a misdemeanor hearing scheduled at 8 a.m. Sunday.
As a freshman, Lawrence played in all of UNLV’s 37 games and started seven.
He led Bishop Gorman to the Class 4A state championship as a junior in 2005. Lawrence and the Gaels lost in the state semifinals in 2006.
