The Tehoka Nanticoke saga took another turn Saturday, as the supremely talented but lately troubled Albany men’s lacrosse phenom did not play in the Great Danes’ 14-9 loss to No. 5 Maryland.

Nanticoke dressed for the game and was spotted on the sideline at Casey Stadium, according to Albany Times Union reporter Mark Singelais, but was held out of the game at coach Scott Marr’s discretion.

“My decision for him not to play,” Marr said, according to Singelais. “Team thing. No need for the public to know.”

There were multiple reports that Nanticoke got hit in the face with a ball at practice Friday while he wasn’t wearing his helmet.

Nanticoke and the Great Danes had a tumultuous week. Albany held him out of last Saturday’s game at Cornell after finding out that he had tagged a business in one of his Instagram posts, a secondary NCAA violation. After clarifying that Nanticoke’s suspension was imposed by the university, and not the NCAA — Marr blamed the NCAA in a radio interview with 104.5 The Team on Monday — the NCAA moved swiftly to reinstate Nanticoke for Tuesday’s game against UMass. Albany’s athletic director repudiated Marr’s comments two days later.

Now it appears another internal matter, if not an injury, has kept Nanticoke off the field. He also remained at home during the fall for what Marr termed “personal reasons.”

As the nation’s most highly touted freshman last year, Nanticoke led Albany with 50 goals and ranked second on the team with 32 assists. He has six goals and two assists in three games played this season.

The Great Danes, who advanced to the NCAA semifinals for the first time in program history in 2018, fell to 1-4 with Saturday’s loss to the Terps, who got three goals and five assists from Jared Bernhardt in the victory.

A five-goal Maryland run at the end of the second quarter, punctuated by Bernhardt with six seconds remaining before halftime, staked the Terps to a 7-2 lead they would not relinquish. Louis Dubick added a hat trick, and Logan Wisnauskas, Bubba Fairman and Anthony DeMaio scored two goals apiece for Maryland. Justin Shockey (12-for-20) and Austin Henningsen (5-for-7) combined to give the Terps a 17-10 edge on faceoffs.