It is always a good thing to end the basketball season with a victory. That
means normally that something special has
happened to that particular team.
For Southern Miss during the 1986-87
season, that is exactly what happened.
The Golden Eagles won five games over a
14-day period to capture the 1987 National Invitation Tournament. The championship game saw Southern Miss beat LaSalle,
and their premier player Lionel “L-Train”
Simmons, 84-80, in front of a capacity
crowd of 12,742 at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Mar. 26.
That game capped a whirlwind tour that
began with a sold-out crowd of 8,095 at
Reed Green Coliseum, seeing the Eagles
defeat in-state rival Ole Miss 93-75 to
open the postseason event.
Southern Miss 84, LaSalle 80 • Mar. 26, 1987
Southern Miss ( 23-11)
Player FG FGA 3FG 3FGA FT
Derrek Hamilton, F6 16 3 4 2
JohnWhite,F 3 9 1 5 3
Randolph Keys, C 8 15 0 1 2
CaseyFisher,G 6 14 6 11 0
Kenny Siler, G 6 8 1 2 4
JuradoHinton 1 1 0 0 0
RandyPettus 0 1 0 1 0
WillieBrown 1 1 0 0 0
Team
Totals 31 11
BK S MIN
0 2 30
0 1 21
0 1 40
0 2 37
0 0 36
0 0 17
00 9
0 1 10
65
.477
24
.458
FTA OFF DEF TOT PF TP A TO
4
4
8 1241715
4 2 2 4 41050
5 5 4 9 31813
0 2 3 5 11873
4 0 1 1 21741
00 3 32210
01 0 12041
11 1 23200
5
42
21
84
23
13 0 7 200
11
18
15
22
.611
LaSalle ( 20-13)
Player FG FGA 3FG 3FGA FT
Larry Koretz, F 4 17 0 9 0
Lionel Simmons, F12 19 0 0 10
Craig Conlin, C 4 9 0 0 2
Tim Legler, G 4 14 2 8 2
Rich Tarr, G 4 11 2 7 4
RonBarnes 0 0 0 0 2
GaryJones 0 0 0 0 0
Team
Totals 28 4
70
.400
24
.167
FTA OFF DEF TOT PF TP A
05 611280
10 6 5 11 2 34 1
25 2 74103
61 3 43121
41 2 32149
20 0 0420
00 0 0101
5
41
15
20
24
18
18
.833
18
80
TO BK S MIN
2 0 0 30
0 0 1 40
5 0 1 31
1 0 2 40
2 0 1 40
1 1 0 12
0 01 7
2
13
1
6
200
SouthernMiss 39 45 — 84
LaSalle 34 46 — 80
Attendance:
12,742
tories in a season for the Golden Eagles.
USM finished 6-6 in Metro Conference
play, tying for third in the league.
Under the guidance of M.K. Turk, the
explosive Golden Eagle offensive show
averaged 82 points per game that year and
paved the way for two NCAA tournament
teams just three and four years later. The
only two times the Golden Eagles reached
“March Madness.”
That offensive machine featured the
Eagles version of their own Fab Four,
juniors Randolph Keys, Derrek Hamilton,
Casey Fisher and John White, along with
senior Kenny Siler, which led the way for
Southern Miss. All five players finished the
year averaging in double figures and the
foursome combined to become the first in
NCAA history to have four players on the
same team to score 1,000 points in their
respective careers.
