July 17, 2007

By Mike Griffith

Knoxville News-Sentinel

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.--Andy Tipton can forget about winning any more "underrated" basketball awards after his 44-point outburst in the Pilot Rocky Top League title game Monday night.

Tipton, a former Maryville High School star headed into his senior year at Carson-Newman, stemmed a News Sentinel comeback as Toyota of Knoxville held on for a 131-120 victory in front of a crowd of around 1,500 at Bearden High School.

"Any time you're playing against better competition, you go harder," said Tipton, the championship game MVP after scoring 13 of Toyota's final 19 points. "You want to prove you can play with the big boys."

Dane Bradshaw, who scored five points for Toyota (7-2), said Tipton, certainly did that.

"This isn't a case of 10 minutes of fame; Andy put on a show all summer," Bradshaw said. "Without a doubt, he proved over and over he could play at the Division I level."

Tipton was named the Ernie Grunfeld Award winner earlier this week as the league's most underrated player.

More than half the seats were full at Bearden despite the fact that no current Tennessee players participated in the title game.

News Sentinel stars Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince were still back home on summer break, and Toyota's Chris Lofton had yet to return from his tryout with the U.S. Pan-Am team.

Damon Johnson, the league MVP, said Toyota was determined to win with or without Lofton, who averaged 40 points in the first two games of the season before his hiatus.

"Everybody thought Chris would be our focal point, which he was in the two games he played," said Johnson, a seven-year veteran of the professional ranks in Spain. "But as you could see, all of our guys could play. We didn't have anyone who went out there to get 40. If they got it, it's because it just took care of itself."

That was certainly the case with Tipton, whose 3-pointer gave Toyota a 79-55 lead with 18 minutes left.

Cameron Sharp (37) and Scott Williams (35) battled back for the News Sentinel (6-3), and after three Sharp treys and a free throw, the Press had drawn to 117-111 with 2:38 left.

But there was Tipton again, hitting a 3-pointer to put the game out of reach.

"Our team just had really good chemistry," said Tipton, who finished as the highest scorer in the league not affiliated with a Division I program. "We played team ball."