By Hannah Davis

The Farmville Herald

Longwood University men’s basketball players Leron Fisher and Chris Shields have been held out of action for 10 consecutive games, and coach Jayson Gee broke his month-long silence about the status of the players on Wednesday.

“At my discretion, I have held Leron Fisher and Chris Shields out of game competition for failing to uphold the standards of our program,” Gee said. “I plan to keep them on the bench until the issue is resolved.”

Gee did not elaborate on “the issue.”

Fisher, a senior from Baltimore, and Shields,

a freshman from Hedgesville, W.Va., have been on the bench and not dressed out since a Jan. 2 home game against Gardner-Webb.

Prior to Gee’s statement Wednesday, Longwood Assistant Vice President for Athletics Communications Chris Cook had repeatedly cited “respective coach’s decisions” when asked about the two players’ absence.

Fisher, who played in 11 games before being benched, averages 28.9 minutes of playing time and 9.6 points a game. He scored season highs of 18 points on three occasions. He was a member of Gee’s first recruiting class at Longwood.

Shields, one of five true freshmen on the team, has played in 14 games, averaging 21 minutes and 6.8 points per game. He scored a season-high 19 points against Maine in November.

Longwood (8-17) will host rival Liberty on Saturday at 2 p.m. The team will then have three regular-season games left before the Big South Conference Championship, which will be played March 3-6 at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C.