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 Steve Shurina announces the signing of guard Antonio Russell. |
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May 17, 2004
Cullowhee, N.C. - Catamount men's head basketball coach Steve Shurina announced today that Antonio Russell signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Western Carolina University. Russell is a 6-1, 175 pound guard from Tampa Fla., and attends Gaither High School.
Named first team All-Hillsborough, as well as Hillsborough County Player of the Year by the Tampa Tribune, Russell was also named 5A second team All-State by the Florida Sports Writers Association. Russell was an honorable mention All-State selection as a sophomore and junior as well. A two time team MVP, as well as a two-time, first team All-Western Conference pick, he was a two-time Tampa Bay All-Star team member and led his AAU team to a Florida State Championship.
"I am very excited to find someone of Antonio's caliber this late in the process,' Shurina said. "He is quick, he is athletic and he can score as evidence by his statistics. More than that, he competes and defends on every possession."
Ranked the 19th-best player in Florida by youthprepstar.com, Russell averaged 24.1 points per game as senior, with 5.5 rebounds. During his sophomore and junior seasons, Russell averaged 19.8 and 19.4 points, respectively. Russell, who had 642 points at Gaither HS, led the Cowboys to 21-8 record and an appearance in his region championship as a senior.
Russell joins Negus McKenna (Montreal, Quebec), Jarmar Jenkins (Chapel Hill, Tenn.) and Trey Hopkins (Orlando Fla.) who signed with the Catamounts as a part of the 2004 freshmen class.
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