Former Eastern men’s basketball player Tyler Laser was denied a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA on July 7.

Laser hurt his back and required season-ending surgery last year.

Rich Moser, associate athletic director for media and public relations, said almost all of the cases that involve an appeal for an extra year of athletic eligibility are medical cases.

Laser played one game too many to stay under the limit of games allowed to receive a medical red-shirt. The medical red-shirt would have allowed Laser to play next season.

Moser said every player has four years of eligibility to use over a five-year span.

If Laser had been given an extra year of eligibility his senior season would not have counted as one of his four years.

NCAA policy states that a player cannot play in more than 30 percent of the games in a season and be eligible for a medical red-shirt, Moser said.

An official for the NCAA looks over documentation such as medical records and decides whether or not an athlete will get another year of eligibility, Moser said.

“There isn’t a cut and dry policy as to how the NCAA rules on (medical red-shirts),” Moser said.

A different person looks at each different case, Moser said.

Moser said medical red-shirts have not been very common while he has been at Eastern.

“This is the first one I’ve done in the five years I’ve been here,” Moser said.

Laser graduated in May and now plans to look into playing overseas for a professional team.

“He will try to sign with an agent and the agent will try to sign him to a team,” Moser said.

There are leagues in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South America, Latin America and other parts of the world, Moser said.

Playing for a European league like Euroleague is also a possibility for Laser.

Euroleague is a major basketball league in Europe that consists of teams from countries like Spain, Turkey, Germany, Russia and many others.

Laser finished his junior season in 2009 as a first team All-Ohio Valley Conference selection. That year he averaged 13.9 points per game.

Laser averaged 11.4 points per game in 10 games last season.

He finished his collegiate career seventh on the Panthers career three-pointers list with 165 threes made.

Laser had 1,087 career points with the Panthers.

Jordan Boner can be reached at 581-7942

or [email protected].