1991 was the end of an era for Men’s Basketball. Jerry Matthews, who had been a vanguard of the Lion Basketball program and guided them to 2 conference titles, decided to ride into the sunset after a Hall of Fame Career as a Football player and Head Basketball Coach at ETSU and also a hall of fame career in the Texas High School Basketball ranks in Corsicana. The ET athletic department started a search and found Southwestern University Coach Paul Peak to their liking.

Peak had literally coached around the entire country and was exactly what ET needed. He had never coached at the NCAA Division II level, but his success at Southwestern and Vanguard University in Southern California had proven he was the man to take the Lions to the next level, and that was to be invited to the NCAA postseason for the first time in program history.

Peak’s first two seasons were ugly. An overall record of 10-55 overall and 2-21 in LSC made for some rough times in Commerce. However, in his third year, the Lions improved drastically to 11-15 overall and 5-7 in LSC play and then notched their first winning season since 1990 with a 16-12 record in 1995, good enough for second place. That set the stage for the record setting 1995-96 season.

ET roared to a 20-6 overall record and an 11-3 record in conference. This was good enough to land them a tie for the Lone Star Conference title, but the real goal was to have their name called at the end of the February tournaments. The Lions had a major letdown by losing in the first round of the LSC tournament that was hosted in Commerce, losing by 5 to a Central Oklahoma team that played upset maker and many wondered if that reason alone would keep the Lions out of the dance again despite winning regular season championships.

Thankfully that proved not to be the case, and Peak’s 1996 Lions made history. The field in the NCAA DII tournament had been expanded to 48 teams, adding an additional region and the Lions were selected as the 5th seed in the South Central Region, where they would face MIAA champions Central Missouri in the first round. History had been made. For the first time since joining the NCAA in 1982-83, and for the first time since 1979, The Lions were headed to the national tournament. It had been 17 years since ET Basketball had gotten the call to the dance. This time the desination was not a campus playoff game or Kansas City, but Rolla, Missouri, home of the South Central Regional.

Sadly, it was a short lived time at the dance, as the Lions fought Central Missouri tooth and nail, going to an overtime game to see who would face Missouri-Rolla in the round of 32, but The Mules kicked just hard enough to break Lion hearts with an 89-86 win over ET that sent the Lions home with a 20-8 overall record.

Losing in the first round was not the way to go out, but in just 5 short years, Peak had turned the Lions from doormat into national power and set them up for a 3 year run that would be among the best in Lion Basketball history. Jason Hall cracked the 500-point ceiling in 1995, leading the Lions in scoring with 531 points. He averaged 21.24 points per game. He was second on the team in rebounds with 168, and led in steals with 70. Charles Ward led in rebounding with 177 boards, and in blocks with 18.

Hall was named LSC MVP and First Team All-LSC. Ward snagged his second consecutive Second Team All-LSC honor, and Tim Cleveland earned his third consecutive All-Academic honor. Jimmy Foster was given an Honorable Mention All-Academic spot, and Paul Peak was named LSC Coach of the Year.

1995-96 East Texas State Lions Basketball

Lone Star Conference Champions

NCAA First Round