Men's Basketball Southern Conference

CofC's Bowie To Forego Senior Season

Charleston, S.C. -- The College of Charleston announced May 17 that
forward Leighton Bowie will forgo his final season of eligibility and plans
to graduate with a degree in communications this summer.

The Port Charlotte, Fla., native redshirted during the 1998-99
season after being diagnosed with the condition focal segmental
glomerulosclerosis, a degenerative kidney disease.

Bowie (6-6, 200) was named to the Southern Conference
all-tournament team this season after averaging 16.7 points in Charleston's
three games, including 18 points and nine rebounds in the Cougars' 44-43
semifinal loss to Furman.

He finishes with 10 career double-doubles including five this past
season. He scored a career-high 23 points on three occassions, the last
time coming in a 76-72 win at Furman on January 14, 2002. Twice he pulled
down a career-high 13 rebounds.

Bowie helped Charleston to a 21-9 overall record last season and a
share of the Southern Conference's South Division title with a 9-7 mark.
He led the Cougars averaging 7.0 rebounds per game and ranked second in
scoring averaging 12.1 points per contest.

With the departure of Bowie and the graduation of three-time
all-conference team member Jeff Bolton (18.1 ppg), the Cougars lose their
top two scorers from last season who accounted for over 30 points per game.

"Leighton has a lot of things going in his life right now," said
Cougar coach Tom Herrion, who became the 20th head coach in school history
on April 9th. "He was recently married, he and his wife are expecting their
first child, and add to that knee surgery, and Leighton informed us that it
was in his best interest to move on to the next phase of his life.

"Although I would have liked the opportunity to have coached
Leighton, I respect his decision and we'll all move forward from here."