Southeast suspends forward Williams

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball program suffered another blow.

Calvin Williams was suspended from the team Saturday following his arrest early Friday morning on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance, driving without a license and driving without headlights.

Southeast interim director of athletics Cindy Gannon said she found out about the charges Saturday, shortly after acting head coach Zac Roman was made aware of the situation.

Gannon said Saturday she made the decision to suspend Williams after speaking with Roman. She did not say how long the suspension might last.

"He's suspended from the team immediately, and Monday we'll start to make some determinations after we do a further investigation," said Gannon, who was attending a wedding when she heard the news. "I haven't actually seen the police report. To be fair to everybody, we'll investigate and try to find out exactly what happened."

A Cape Girardeau Police Department spokesman said Williams was pulled over for driving without headlights.

The spokesman said Williams consented to a search of the vehicle. During the search, a bag of leafy substance, believed to be marijuana, was found. Williams also was driving without a license, police said.

Williams was taken to the Cape Girardeau Police Department and issued three citations, all misdemeanors.

Williams could face up to one year in the county jail if convicted of the Class A misdemeanor of possession of marijuana.

Roman said he contacted Gannon after learning of the charges Saturday.

"We talked about it and decided it's [the suspension] the best thing to do until we find out more information," Roman said. "We'll just have to wait and see."

Williams, a 6-foot-9 junior forward, started 26 of 31 games last season after transferring from the University of Colorado.

Williams averaged 6.9 points per game, was second on the team with 5.5 rebounds per contest and led the squad with 32 blocked shots. He ranked fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference in blocks.

Roman, who served as a Southeast assistant last season, was named the Redhawks acting head coach Oct. 16, one week after Scott Edgar was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an NCAA hearing on alleged rules violations in the men's basketball program.

Southeast plays the first of two exhibition games Saturday against Missouri Baptist. The regular season begins Nov. 14 at New Mexico.