New Mexico State University freshman basketball player Herb Pope entered a plea deal last week in Pennsylvania and will enter a first-offender program after being charged with misdemeanor drunken driving, reckless endangerment and other counts, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported on Sunday.

Pope, who played 16 games and started 12 for the Aggies, was found eligible to enter the Accelerated Rehabilitated Disposition program in the Allegheny County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas last Wednesday, while a charge of underage drinking was dropped, the Sun-News reported.

The highly recruited basketball player was found passed out in the driver's seat of car in the Pittsburgh suburb of Moon, Pa., last Dec. 28, the paper said.

Pope's attorney Arnold Klein said his client will have to appear again later this summer to formally enroll in the program, the Sun-News said.

"He just has to make sure he does all of the requirements and pays the fines and doesn't get in trouble any more, and his record will be erased," Klein told the Sun-News.

Pope, who got a late start with the Aggies because he didn't get an academic clearance from the NCAA until January, was third in scoring on this year's 21-14 team that finished in a four-way tie for first in the Western Athletic Conference, the paper reported.

Named to the WAC's All-Newcomer team, Pope averaged just over 11 points a game and 6.8 rebounds while playing 24.3 minutes a game, the Sun-News said. 

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