Hall of Fame
The 1985-86 men’s basketball team was enshrined into Keystone College’s prestigious Athletics Hall of Fame for its remarkable accomplishments that season in which the Giants finished second in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Championships.
With only three players returning from the previous season’s team that went 25-3 and reached the NJCAA Region 19 Tournament, expectations for the 1985-86 men’s basketball team were not high and the Giants opened the season with a loss before holding a 5-2 record at the semester break.
The Giants overcame more adversity after losing two players over the break to win 20 of their last 23 games while making a historic run through the regional and national playoff tournaments, led by head coach Dennis Mishko and assistant coach Scott Walsh.
Team captains Rich Eubanks and Steve Truiett provided veteran leadership on the court while Tony Bullett and Dexter Whitfield became impact players after joining the Giants in the second semester. Center Willie LeGree became a force on the glass, forward Shawn McCray developed into the prototypical sixth-man, and Jim Higgins found his form at the guard position.
Roger Morgan and Kimmey Doney, along with Bullett, made vital contributions to the team off the bench.
Following a loss to local rival Lackawanna College, Keystone won its final 13 games of the regular season and averaged more than 100 points per game in the last eight contests. The run was highlighted by Coach Mishko’s 250th career win in a 96-89 triumph over Lackawanna.
Seeded second in the Region 19 Tournament, Keystone defeated the County College of Morris 80-61 in the semifinals to set up a re-match with Passaic County College in the championship game. The Giants avenged a regular season loss by winning an exciting, back-and-forth game, 82-80 over Passaic to give Keystone its first-ever regional championship.
Keystone headed to the national tournament at Delta College in University Park, Michigan where they opened with a tight, 75-74 win over Eastfield College out of Texas before advancing to the national championship game with a 63-52 win over St. Louis Meramec Community College. The Giants finished as the national runner-up despite putting up a strong battle against powerful Parkland College out of Illinois in the title game, with Parkland winning 88-72.
Keystone’s historic season in 1985-86 highlighted by the team’s first Region 19 championship, first NJCAA National Tournament appearance, the program’s best Region 19 record (12-3), and the second-best overall record (25-5) in program history. Eubanks and LeGree were both named to the Region 19 All-Tournament Team with Eubanks collecting MVP honors as well as being an NJCAA All-American Honorable Mention pick and being named to the Division II National All-Tournament Team.
