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Southern Miss forced to finish game with only four players

By Vinnie Criscenzo

Feb 12, 2015; Hattiesburg, MS, USA; The Southern Miss Golden Eagles played with four players during overtime against the Florida International Golden Panthers at Reed Green Coliseum. Three of their seven dressed players fouled out in the game. Florida International won, 73-71 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 12, 2015; Hattiesburg, MS, USA; The Southern Miss Golden Eagles played with four players during overtime against the Florida International Golden Panthers at Reed Green Coliseum. Three of their seven dressed players fouled out in the game. Florida International won, 73-71 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports /
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Southern Miss was forced to finish their game against Florida International with only four players on the court.

It looks to be getting pretty dim for Southern Mississippi basketball.

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Thursday night, they had no choice but to play the last 48 seconds of their game against Florida International with only four players on the court.

Surprisingly, they held their own though, as they only lost 73-71 in overtime. They even had a good shot to force double overtime, but Chip Armelin missed a potential game-tying shot right at the buzzer.

The Golden Eagles are 6-17 this season, and 1-11 in Conference USA. Not exactly a season to be proud of, but its hard to have a winning record when you can’t even dress a full team to the games.

There were several different reasons why Southern Miss were left with only four players to finish the game. First, the basketball program is under NCAA investigation for recruiting violations by former head coach Donnie Tyndall, who now coaches at Tennessee.

Second, two starters, guard Rasham Suarez and forward Jeremiah Eason were ruled ineligible last month by the NCAA, so they were not available to play. Another starter was injured and not available to play in the game, and another starter did not suit up.

That left the Golden Eagles with only seven players dressed for this game.

With 48 seconds remaining in overtime, sophomore guard Matt Bingaya fouled out. He was the third Golden Eagle to foul out, which left the team with only four players left to play.

It’s still pretty impressive that with just seven players dressed and a handful of starters missing, they were able to force this game to overtime and almost force it to double overtime. It has to be very frustrating for these players, and the program, to have to play to these disadvantages. Hopefully, the investigation ends swiftly and Southern Miss can get back running at full steam.

H/T USA Today Sports

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