ARKANSAS CLAIMS INAUGURAL OLD SPICE CLASSIC

Lake Buena Vista, Fla., November 26, 2006 - With all-tournament selection Sonny Weems scoring a game-high 19 points, Arkansas captured the inaugural Old Spice Classic here Sunday evening by defeating West Virginia 71-64 in a collegiate basketball game featuring two unbeaten teams at Milk House at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.

The win marked the fifth in-season title for the Arkansas program in 48 appearances as the Razorbacks had previously won tournament championships in 1961, 1968, 1994 and 2004. Overall, Arkansas has a 76-59 in-season tournament record. West Virginia was competing 50th in-season event as the Mountaineers were seeking their 17th title. The Old Spice Classic title game was the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

Weems scored nine points in the opening half as the Razorbacks led 35-28 at intermission as West Virginia led only once in the championship game at 3-2. Arkansas raced to a 28-16 edge with 5:23 left in first half and led by 16 (62-46) in the second half enroute to their fifth-straight win to open the 2006-2007 season.

Patrick Beverley joining Weems on the Old Spice Classic all-tournament team for Arkansas as the Razorbacks posted earlier Old Spice Classic wins over Southern Illinois (61-53) Marist (73-64) to advance to the title game. West Virginia, which defeated Montana (73-56) and Western Michigan (79-54) in their first two tournament games, placed Darris Nichols and Frank Young on the all-tourney team.

While West Virginia enjoyed double-digit wins in its first two Old Spice Classic games, Arkansas faced tougher tests, including in overtime victory in their first contest over SIU. The Razorbacks rallied from a five-point deficit in the final two minutes to force overtime where Arkansas held SIU scoreless while scoring eight points in the extra period as Weems scored four points.

Marist, which served as the host institution from the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference, placed third and had the Old Spice Classic’s most outstanding player in Jared Jordan. A senior guard, Jordan led all tournament scorers and playmakers with 62 points and 27 assists for three games along with finishing fifth in rebounds (19).

Jordan scored an Old Spice Classic single-game high with 30 points in Marist’s 89-78 win third-place over Western Michigan. Jordan made nine of 13 shots from the field in the third-place game while hitting all 10 of his free throws while handing out 10 assists. After scoring 11 points in Marist’s opening 63-56 win over Minnesota, Jordan tallied 21 points with eight rebounds and eight assists against Arkansas in the semi-finals.

Jamaal Tatum hit a 3-point basket and Matt Shaw added a pair of free throws in the final seconds to secure a 69-64 victory for Southern Illinois over Virginia Tech in the fifth-place game of the Old Spice Classic. Shaw scored 17 points and Tatum had 16 to pace Southern Illinois, who matched Western Michigan and Marist with 2-1 Old Spice Classic records.

Andrew Strait scored 17 points and Jordan Hasquet had 14 to lead Montana to a 72-65 victory over Minnesota in the Old Spice Classic seventh-place game. Bryan Ellis and Cameron Rundles each scored 10 points to help Montana snap a four-game losing streak. Montana, Western Michigan and Virginia Tech were 1-2 in the inaugural Old Spice Classic while Minnesota was winless.

The second Old Spice Classic is set for November 22-25, 2007 with George Mason, Kansas State, North Carolina State, Penn State, Rider, South Carolina and Villanova in the field. The 2008 event will be held November 27-30 with Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Siena, Tennessee and Wichita State scheduled to compete.

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