New Mexico State basketball player Anthony Roy on probation from 2021 felony
Jason Groves
LAS CRUCES - New Mexico State basketball player Anthony Roy and two Aggies teammates were suspended for one game as a result of the events that surrounded a Nov. 19 fatal shooting in Albuquerque.
Roy did not travel with the Aggies for their current three-game road trip due to "personal reasons," though the other two players who were suspended — Issa Muhammad and Marchelus Avery — did travel but didn't play in the Dec. 7 game at Santa Clara.
The Sun-News has learned Roy is on probation through 2025 after he pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement in an Idaho court to a felony count of possessing a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver.
"Everyone at the institution is fully aware of Anthony Roy's background," NM State athletics director Mario Moccia said.
It's not clear whether Roy's probation played a role in him not traveling with the team.
New Mexico State Police claim Roy, Muhammad and Avery arrived at the scene of a deadly shootout involving teammate Mike Peake on the UNM campus last month and left with Peake's gun and tablet before officers arrived. None of the players have been charged with a crime.
Roy, an Oakland, Calif., native, was briefly on the College of Southern Idaho roster in August 2021, but never played there, instead playing junior college basketball in Washington state last season.
Court documents show Roy appeared in Twin Falls County Felony Magistrate Court in Idaho in October 2021 on the felony drug charge. He initially pleaded not guilty in January, but pleaded guilty in May 2022 and was sentenced in August to fines, community service and probation through Aug. 22, 2025.
Roy played basketball in the 2021-22 season at Wenatchee Valley, in Washington, averaging 23.2 points per game in 26 games.
He transferred to NMSU in the offseason and has played in five of the team's seven games as of Thursday afternoon. The 6-foot-5 guard is usually the first player off the bench and is third on the team in scoring, averaging 11.6 points per game.
Jason Groves can be reached at jgroves@lcsun-news.com or @JPGroves on Twitter.