By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

University of Cincinnati basketball forward Eric Hicks pleaded not guilty to an aggravated assault charge at an arraignment Tuesday and was released on $10,000 bond.

Hicks, 19, from Greensboro, N.C., spent Monday night in jail after being charged with aggravated assault, a fourth-degree felony, for allegedly throwing a beer bottle that struck 23-year-old Alicia Simmons, causing a laceration in her forehead that required stitches.

"There are a lot of different versions of what happened," said Ted Froncek, Hicks' attorney. "One thing I know is real consistent in all these stories. She hit him in the head with a bottle. I could see the mark on his head."

The incident occurred between 2 and 2:30 a.m. Saturday at the Vertigo nightclub at 1 W. Corry St., Corryville. Simmons, 23, reported it to police at 4:17 p.m. at University Hospital, according to court records. Simmons drove herself to the hospital.

UC athletic director Bob Goin suspended Hicks indefinitely from the basketball program for conduct detrimental to the team.

Meanwhile, court officials in Barton County, Kansas, on Monday set a preliminary hearing for 1 p.m. June 26 for UC basketball recruit Robert Whaley, a junior-college center who was charged May 6 with two felony counts of aggravated battery in connection with a Feb. 9 incident.

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com