March 2, 2003


FURMAN’S SOUCHU NAMED ALL-SOUTHERN CONFERENCE

GREENVILLE -- Furman’s Karim Souchu has been named to the 10-member All-Southern Conference team in voting by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today.

Souchu, a senior forward from Paris, France, ranked fourth in the Southern Conference in scoring this year, averaging 19.6 points per game. He averaged 27.8 points per game over the Paladins’ final six regular season games, helping Furman to a 5-1 record in that span. In his last three games he scored 27 points in a 69-66 win over Wofford in Spartanburg, a career high 32 points in an 84-71 triumph over East Tennessee State in Johnson City, and 31 points in the Paladins’ 78-74 overtime victory over UNC Greensboro.

Souchu’s all-conference selection is the fourth of his career. He heads into conference tournament play with 1,998 points. Only three players in Furman history have scored more than 2,000 points in a career: Frank Selvy (2,538), Jonathan Moore (2,299), and Darrell Floyd (2,281).

Furman, which closed the regular season with five straight wins, will play VMI on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. in conference tournament first round action at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Paladins defeated the Keydets 61-56 in Greenville during the regular season and take the league’s south division No. 4 seed into tournament play. VMI finished as the north division’s No. 5 seed. The winner will play north division champion Davidson in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

Last year Furman finished as Southern Conference Tournament runnerup, losing to Davidson 62-57 in the championship game after becoming the first team in league history to advance from the first round to the title game.