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Chipps reaches mark as Raiders pull off upset By Don Hunt ASHLAND � Four months ago, Tom Chipps was simply hoping to regain his voice and his strength. Basketball was on the back burner. A rare virus that attacked and paralyzed his vocal cords left Chipps� senior season with the Southern Oregon University basketball team in jeopardy. And that�s what made Saturday night extra special. Chipps scored a game-high 18 points to lead SOU to a 75-63 upset over No. 6-ranked Western Baptist at McNeal Pavilion and in the process became the school�s all-time leading scorer. Chipps entered the contest 10 points shy of Ryan Harbert�s career scoring mark of 1,538 points established between 1993-97. With Harbert and the other 889 fans cheering him on from the stands, Chipps swished a long 3-point basket from the right wing with 14:04 left in the game to hoist himself to the top of SOU�s scoring ladder. "I really wasn�t thinking about the record too much � I just wanted to beat these guys," said Chipps, who now has 1,546 career points at SOU with five regular-season games and the Cascade Conference tournament yet to be played. "I knew if I just played the way I always do that it would probably come (Saturday), but I wasn�t going to force a bunch of shots." Back in September, Chipps wasn�t sure he would have a senior season. Twenty pounds had vanished from his 6-foot-3, 205-pound frame, his voice was gone and he was so weak he could barely walk to his classes, let alone play basketball. He was set to fly back to Wake Forest University in North Carolina and undergo surgery on his larynx when his ailment miraculously went away. "I was just stoked to get my voice back and be able to breathe normally again," Chipps said. Chipps missed the Raiders� first six games but returned on Nov. 2 and slowly worked his way back into the starting lineup. Chipps was happy to see Harbert in the stands Saturday. They both graduated from Marist High in Eugene � Chipps in 1997 and Harbert in 1992 � and have played pickup games with each other in the summer. "I told him last summer I was going to break his record and he said, �Great, I�ll come down and watch you do it,�" Chipps said. "It made it more special with him in the stands." Chipps added an exclamation point to his night by drilling a 25-foot bomb just as the game ended. "We had the game won and I wasn�t going to shoot it," he said. "And then I thought, what the heck, let it fly." Chipps� record-setting night overshadowed another fine effort by the streaking Raiders, who won their third straight game to improve to 15-9 overall and 9-4 in the Cascade Conference. Senior forward Shavon Haynes added 15 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field and junior guard James Wightman chipped in 12 on 5-of-6 marksmanship for SOU. Wightman�s 3-pointer from the wing with 9:46 remaining in the first half gave the Raiders the lead for good at 17-15. SOU boosted its lead to 32-22 at the half and led by 13 points on three occasions after the intermission. Western Baptist got within 57-50 with 6:21 to play but Chipps hit a lean-in 10-footer and Haynes followed with a rebound basket that made it 61-50 with 4:15 to go. The Warriors (20-7, 11-3 Cascade Conference) failed to draw closer than nine points the rest of the way. Mike Jacobsen led Western Baptist, which handily defeated the Raiders earlier this season, with 17 points. "We decided a month ago that we weren�t a very good defensive team," Raiders coach Brian McDermott said. "And so that�s what we�ve spent a lot of our practice time working on. "Now we�re fighting through screens a lot tougher, we�re diving on loose balls, we�re taking charges and all those other little things that allow you to make stops against good teams." McDermott was also pleased with his reserves. Not only did Wightman, a South Medford product, come off the bench and score 12 points in 13 minutes, but Chad Paris, another former Panther, chipped in eight points, Hamilton Barnes five and Matt Zosel and Reed Sorensen four each. The Raiders meet Warner Pacific at McNeal Pavilion Monday at 7:30 p.m. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.