The late 1990’s were a rough time for Texas A&M-Commerce in athletics, but during the Fall and Winter, Men’s Basketball was heating up the campus and keeping fans on the edge of their seats, and Paul Peak had built a program that had duplicated the success that the Jim Gudger era teams had. Heading into the 1997-98 season, Peak had 3 straight winning seasons, 2 consecutive postseason NCAA apperances (The first NCAA postseason invites in program history), and a conference championship. Peak felt that his team was every bit as capable as the previous two teams that had made runs, and thus started Peak’s final notable season.

After a 3-2 start, TAMUC went on yet another impressive winning streak, this one being 13 out of 14 games to start the season 16-3 and ranked in the NCAA DII top ten. Heading out to the West Texas Panhandle, the Lions dropped a 10 point affair with rival West Texas A&M that put them in a tie with WT for command of the Lone Star Conference, but not all was lost as the Lions won 5 of their next 6 to close the regular season out with a 21-5 regular season record and 11-3 record in conference play. The Lions clinched a share of the LSC title with West Texas A&M, but the Buffs had a better regular season record, so the LSC tournament would be played back on the plains. It would also determine where the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament would be held, and it would come down to West Texas or Texas A&M-Commerce.

The Lions opened up the tournament by crushing Cameron 87-62, setting them up for a semifinal matchup with West Texas. The two teams squared off for bragging rights, the chance to play for the LSC tournament Championship, and the chance to host the South Central Regional. Once again, the Buffs got the best of the Lions and would go on to win the LSC tournament, clinching the regional host site and also the top seed in the NCAA tournament, but the Lions were going to the dance also, and hoped to get a shot at the Buffs and end their season in front of their home fans.

In the third of the game of the regular season, the Lions had suffered their worst loss of the season against Central Oklahoma, a team they had been familiar with over the past 4 seasons. The Lions took their 6th seed and faced off against the Bronchos one more time and this time it looked like the Lions would get their revenge as they traded leads and blows for 40 minutes, but in the end, UCO did what UCO had done to the Lions too many times before, and that was get just enough done over the finish line to knock off the LIons 107-103, ending the Lions season in the first round for the second time in three seasons. UCO would make it to the Sweet 16, where they met West Texas A&M in The Regional Finals, and the Buffs would win the South Central, going all the way to the Elite 8.

For the Lions and Paul Peak, it was the nearing the end of an era. The next season, Peak would once again put together a solid season at 19-9, but this time would miss the call to the DII dance and in his final season would go 12-14 to end his time in Commerce. Peak would end up handing the program over to his protoge Sam Walker the next year.

Peak took a struggling Lion program and got them back to national prominence and from 1995-1999, TAMUC was one of the best programs in the country with 5 straight winning seasons, 3 NCAA tournament apperances, 2 LSC Championships, a South Central Regional Championship and Elite 8 apperance and a lot of memories that puts Paul Peak among the great Lion Basketball Coaches of all time, and setting up success for years to come.

1997-98 Texas A&M-Commerce Lions Basketball

Lone Star Conference Champions

NCAA South Central First Round