An already nightmarish season for Southern Mississippi turned morbidly funny on Thursday night when the Golden Eagles found a creative new way to lose.

They finished their 73-71 overtime loss to Florida International with only four players on the floor.

Two of the seven players Southern Miss dressed had already fouled out in regulation when second-leading scorer Matt Bingaya also picked up his fifth foul with 45.5 seconds to go in overtime, forcing the Golden Eagles to play a man down the rest of the way. They still nearly forced double overtime anyway, but Chip Armelin's potential game-tying jumper at the buzzer rimmed out.

Southern Miss began Thursday's game severely shorthanded because of injuries and absences related to the NCAA's ongoing investigation into potential recruiting violations committed under former coach Donnie Tyndall. Starting guard Rasham Suarez and starting forward Jeremiah Eason were ruled ineligible by the NCAA on Jan. 29, forward Norville Carey was in a walking boot on Thursday and forward Davon Hayes was not in uniform for undisclosed reasons.

Credit Southern Miss coach Doc Sadler for getting his team to fight until the final buzzer in spite of all that adversity because the Golden Eagles have every reason to quit.

They've lost 14 of their last 15 games to fall to 6-17 overall and 1-11 in Conference USA. They also announced a self-imposed postseason ban last month, meaning they will not participate in the Conference USA tournament and their season will be over March 5 against Louisiana Tech.

A loss to Southern Miss would have been disappointing enough for an FIU team that's 12-12 this season and 5-6 in league play. Had the Panthers lost with the Eagles down to four players, they might never have lived it down.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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