Article from the 1955 Locust Yearbook

Back during the 1953-54 basketball season, a Texas sportswriter unwittingly paid Bobby Rogers and his Lion squad one of the finest compliments they've ever received. After watching the team roll over an opponent, the writer turned to a companion and wonderingly remarked: "Darndest thing I ever saw. They can't shoot, they don't rebound, they move around like a bunch of field hands . . . and they can't lose!"
 
For a while during the 1954-55 season, it looked as though the East Texans weren't going to be able to live up to this billing. They dropped three Lone Star conference games and floundered out of the N.A.I.A. pre-Christmas tourney at Kansas City, an event they'd won handily the year before. But the night of March 1 at Waco saw the Lions stage a magnificent, never- say-die victory march against Southwest Texas of San Marcos which opened the path to Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium for the games that put the James Naismith trophy, symbolic of the N.A.I.A.'s national championship, in the trophy case at the field house at Commerce.
 
The Southwest Texas game must have been one of the toughest to win—or lose—that any team, anywhere, played last spring. It certainly was the keystone struggle for the Lions. They trailed by 16 points at the half and not one spectator in a hundred gave them a chance to pull it out. All during the first half, the East Texans pounded the rim of the basket with near misses while the Bobcats' aces, Banks and Peery, put 'em in from all angles.
 
At the half it stood at 30 for the Lions, 46 for Southwest. Nobody knows just what Rogers told his boys during the intermission. Whatever it was, the Lions played an inspired game the rest of the way. Shelby Metcalf, held down by tight defenses during the early part of the game, hit the season's most important free throw with 40 seconds left in the overtime to give the Lions the lead that stood up for the victory.
 
Fouled again as the buzzer signaled the end of the overtime, Metcalf had to be retrieved from fans who were carrying him off the floor to sink two more foul shots. Final score was 86 to 83. The game marked more than an upturn in Lion cage fortunes. It was a personal triumph, for Rogers and for his crew.
 
Team captain Jim Miller rolled up 35 points for his lifetime scoring record and turned in his usual fine defensive game. Clarence Lynch, top Lion scorer, dropped in 25, with 16 of them coming during the desperate last- half drive. Big Bill Banks, Southwest's leading scoring threat, was effectively throttled down by Bob Williams and then Bryan Miller for East Texas. And Jerrel Logan turned in his best defensive effort in covering tough Joe Peery in the second half.
 
The 78-52 win over Texas Wesleyan in the district N.A.I.A. playoffs at Dallas definitely was anticlimactic after this.
 
At Kansas City, the Lions, seeded halfway down the 32-team entry list, got off to a slow start against State College of Portland, Ore., but managed a 68-55 win. Rebounding was the key that opened the door for the Lions as they controlled the ball all the way. Bob Williams turned in 16 rebounds, while Jim Miller collared 22, most of them in the first half.
 
In the second round of the tournament, the East Texans blasted their way past, Southwestern College of Winfield, Kan., 94 to 78, to gain the quarterfinals. The Lions were sharp in all departments, hitting 51.2 per cent of their shots. Lynch topped Lion scoring with 26. Second-seeded Beloit College fell before Rogers' crew in the next game, sending them into the semi-finals.
 
The Lions were up against a tough team, but precision passing let them get the buckets they had to have. Another shoot-and-run organization, Arkansas Tech, fell before the Commerce crew to open the way into the finals. Score of this game was 81 to 66, with strong defensive work making the difference. The shooting percentages tell the story: 49.1 per cent for the Lions to only 25.9 per cent for the Wonderboys from Tech.
 
Jim Miller was the game's leading scorer and rebounder, with 22 points and 19 saves. Shelby Metcalf pushed his teammate for honors with 20 points, half of them on free throws.
 
The March 12 game for the national crown gave officials fresh evidence that sight unseen ranking on the basis of records is pretty risky. It was 14th and 15th seeded East Texas and Southeastern Oklahoma of Durant for the championship while ranking fivesomes watched from the sidelines.
 
The Lions powered out a 71-54 win over a game but outclassed Oklahoma team in one of the greatest defensive games ever played in Municipal  Auditorium. It was a triumph for Rogers, his team and his style of basketball: there wasn't the slightest doubt in the minds of the 8,000 spectators that the defensive blanket the Lions threw up was responsible for the win.
 
The Savages got not a single good shot in the first half. Only twice did they get a second chance as Jim Miller and Shelby Metcalf gobbled rebounds. They put in but three fielders during the half, and two of these were tip-ins after missed free shots. The Lions' lead zoomed up to 22 points before the half of what turned out to be as lopsided a game as has ever been played in the finals of the 17-year-old tournament.
 
In the second half, the East Texans' defenses opened up a bit, but the Savages were as much as 30 points behind before Rogers called off his team. The Lion reserves held a big 17-point edge when the clock ran out.
 
Miller's game confirmed the crowd's belief that he was the logical choice for the Chuck Taylor trophy, awarded annually to the most valuable player in the tournament. Big Jim played circles around Southeastern's Jim Spivey, who had been named ahead of him to the All-American team the day before.
 
Jim topped scoring in the game with 27 points, and rebounded 14. He got the Taylor trophy and was named to the all-tournament first team. Metcalf and Lynch were named to the second team. All three received wrist watches in post-game ceremonies.
 
It was the final game in Lion uniform for Miller, Metcalf, Lynch, Wayne Mulkey and Bill Notley.
 
During their three-year tenure they have played on teams which won two Lone Star conference titles and tied for a third, captured three district N.A.I.A. championships, gained fourth place in one national tournament, won a pre-season national tourney, took the Elks' Invitational at Dallas, and finished by bringing home the big one.
 
Bob Williams, Bryan Miller, Jack Stephenson, Jerrel Logan and Glynn Stevens, the other men who lent a hand in carrying off national honors, will be back to try to do it again this winter.
 
Statistics Summary for 1954-55

Player	GP	Pts	Avg	FG	FGA	Pct	FT	FTA	Pct	Reb	Avg	PF	FO
Clarence Lynch	34	580	17.1	176	414	.425	228	293	.778	160	4.7	94	6
Jim Miller	34	524	15.4	200	483	.414	124	163	.761	465	13.7	70	2
Shelby Metcalf	34	340	10.0	104	267	.390	132	200	.660	150	4.4	77	2
Bob Williams	34	316	9.3	103	262	.393	110	186	.591	287	8.4	99	5
Jerrel Logan	34	239	7.0	78	182	.429	83	106	.783	109	3.2	87	3
Bill Notley	34	141	4.1	59	125	.472	23	42	.548	93	2.7	69	3
Bryan Miller	31	96	3.1	30	74	.405	36	65	.554	91	2.9	47	2
Raymond Hall	12	89	7.4	31	90	.344	27	45	.600	27	2.3	26	0
Jack Stephenson	27	43	1.6	13	52	.250	17	26	.654	23	0.9	38	0
Wayne Mulkey	29	34	1.2	16	42	.381	2	14	.143	47	1.6	25	0
Glynn Stevens	22	31	1.4	9	30	.300	13	32	.406	27	1.2	22	0
Bob Champion	11	15	1.4	4	12	.333	7	9	.778	3	0.3	3	0
John Coker	1	2	2.0	1	2	.500	0	0	.000	0	0.0	0	0
Dale Lowder	1	2	2.0	1	1	1.000	0	0	.000	0	0.0	1	0
Joe Jones	2	0	0.0	0	0	.000	0	0	.000	1	0.5	0	0
Team totals	34	2447	72.0	824	2044	.403	799	1185	.674	1548	45.5	661	24
Opponents	34	2064	60.7	670		.315	722		.645	1149	33.8	693

 
Results for 1954-55

	Date	Opponent		Score	Site	Notes
	12/01/54	LOUISIANA TECH	W	71-59	Commerce, TX
	12/04/54	at Howard Payne	W	80-66	Brownwood, TX
	12/07/54	CENTRAL STATE	W	84-43	Commerce, TX
	12/09/54	at Louisiana Tech	W	68-63	Ruston, LA
	12/11/54	at Mississippi Southern	W	60-50	Hattiesburg, MS
#	12/16/54	vs Gustavus Adolphus	L	51-59	Kansas City, MO
#	12/17/54	vs Western Ill.	L	75-85	Kansas City, MO
	12/30/54	vs Texas Wesleyan	W	82-53	Dallas, TX
	12/31/54	vs Midwestern	W	56-53	Dallas, TX
	01/04/55	vs Centenary	W	65-54	Gladewater, TX
*	01/06/55	at Lamar Tech	L	67-73	Beaumont, TX
	01/10/55	HOWARD PAYNE	W	90-64	Commerce, TX
*	01/13/55	STEPHEN F. AUSTIN	W	64-52	Commerce, TX
	01/15/55	at Southwest Missouri St.	W	60-57	Springfield, MO
	01/17/55	at Central Mo. St.	W	63-56	Warrensburg, MO
	01/22/55	MISSISSIPPI SOUTHERN	W	79-56	Commerce, TX
	01/28/55	WAYLAND BAPTIST	W	74-61	Commerce, TX
*	01/31/55	at Southwest Texas St.	L	74-80	San Marcos, TX
*	02/04/55	at Sam Houston St.	W	76-68	Huntsville, TX
*	02/07/55	TEXAS A&I	W	67-49	Commerce, TX
*	02/08/55	TEXAS A&I	W	73-51	Commerce, TX
*	02/10/55	SOUTHWEST TEXAS ST.	W	86-71	Commerce, TX
*	02/14/55	SAM HOUSTON ST.	W	66-50	Commerce, TX
*	02/17/55	at Stephen F. Austin	L	59-69	Nacogdoches, TX
*	02/21/55	at Sul Ross St.	W	58-53	Alpine, TX
*	02/22/55	at Sul Ross St.	W	77-67	Alpine, TX
*	02/26/55	LAMAR	W	77-52	Commerce, TX
p	02/28/55	vs. Southwest Texas St.	W	86-83	Waco, TX	NAIA District Tiebreaker
^p	03/02/55	vs. Texas Wesleyan	W	78-52	Dallas, TX	NAIA State Qualifier
#p	03/08/55	vs Portland St.	W	68-55	Kansas City, MO	NAIA First Round
#p	03/09/55	vs Southwestern (Kan.)	W	94-78	Kansas City, MO	NAIA Second Round
#p	03/10/55	vs Beloit (Wis.)	W	66-57	Kansas City, MO	NAIA Quarterfinal
#p	03/11/55	vs Arkansas Tech	W	81-66	Kansas City, MO	NAIA Semifinal
#p	03/12/55	vs Southeastern Okla.	W	71-54	Kansas City, MO	NAIA Championship