Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Furman To Face Minnesota In Great Alaska Shootout

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman Paladins basketball team will play Minnesota in the first round of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout, tournament host school University of Alaska Anchorage has announced.

The Paladins and Golden Gophers will meet on Nov. 24, at 9:45 p.m. in the second game of the first round. Alabama and Alaska Anchorage tip off the eight-team tournament at 7:30 p.m. at Anchorage's Sullivan Arena.

High Point will play Oklahoma at 5:00 p.m. on Nov. 25 and will be followed by Utah and Washington at 7:30 p.m. in the other two first round contests.

Furman will face either Alabama or Alaska Anchorage in a consolation semifinal or winners semifinal game, scheduled for Nov. 26 at Noon and 5:30 p.m., respectively. The championship game, slated for Nov. 27 at 6:00 p.m., will be televised by ESPN2.

Furman's first round clash with Minnesota will mark the second straight year the Paladins and Gophers will meet on the hardwood. Last year Minnesota edged Furman 91-84 in overtime in Minneapolis despite a career high 32-point performance by Paladin forward Maleye Ndoye.

The Paladins return three starters and 11 lettermen off last year's squad, which posted a 17-12 record and produced the Southern Conference's Freshman-of-the-Year in forward Quan Prowell (9.9 ppg/4.4 rpg). In addition, the Paladins dominated the league's all-freshman team in 2003-04, with guard Robby Bostain (10.2 ppg/4.1 rpg) and center Moussa Diagne (8.3 ppg/4.5 rpg) joining Prowell in securing three slots on the five-man squad. A fourth Paladin freshman, guard Eric Webb (9.6 ppg), finished fourth among league freshman in scoring a year ago and tallied a season high 28 points in a 94-84 SoCon Tournament quarterfinal round loss to eventual champion East Tennessee State.