Maryland power forward Ashton Pankey will transfer from the school and look for a new place to play that's closer back to his home in New York according to a tweet by Jeff Ermann of Inside MD Sports.

Freshman PF Ashton Pankey leaving Maryland & will likely transfer somewhere closer to home in NY, multiple sources say.maryland.247sports.com/Board/67/Panke…

— Jeff Ermann (@insidemdsports) May 15, 2012

Last season, Pankey averaged 4.7 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game. He saw the floor for a total of 20.3 minutes per game. His shooting was decent, averaging 45.2 percent of shots made from the floor.

Pankey also tweeted out a good bye message to the Maryland fans.

Gonna miss maryland &terpnation...always have a place in my heart & I appreciated the last 2 years..#familyfirst

— Ashton Pankey (@AshtonP_30) May 15, 2012

The university confirmed that Pankey was leaving the program courtesy of the Terps insider twitter account of the Washington Post.

And Maryland makes it official: Pankey is transferring "due to family reasons." Hopes to find a school closer to home.

— Terrapins Insider (@TerpsInsider) May 15, 2012

The Terrapins will have to hope that their new recruiting class will be able to replace many of the players that have left such as Terrell Stoglin and Mychal Parker.