Northwestern State University Athletics

Piper was voted the state’s “Outstanding Player” in Class 3A in 1976 after averaging 22.4 points and 16.7 rebounds while leading Peabody to 32 consecutive wins before a 65-63 loss in the state finals to Plaquemine. A two-time All-State selection, the 6-foot-8 Piper had five 30-point games as a senior for the Warhorses of coach Earnest Bowman, highlighted by a 38-point, 26-rebound outing against Menard. He was a highly-recruited prospect who chose to play close to his family at NSU. 

While starting all 103 games he played at Northwestern, Piper became the Demons’ third all-time leading rebounder (941, a 9.1 average) and 18th in scoring (1,213 points, an 11.8 average). He posted a career 51.8 field goal percentage and a 10th-place ranking in blocked shots (76) despite having his career interrupted by a broken leg suffered in an auto accident that sidelined him just before his junior season.  As a sophomore playing for coach Tynes Hildebrand, he averaged 12.3 rebounds per game to rank 12th nationally in NCAA Division I. He snared a career-best 20 in a win over Louisiana College, also scoring 20 points. Piper scored 21 points against nationally-ranked Nevada-Las Vegas that season. Coming back from a medical redshirt season, Piper shot 56 percent from the field in each of his final two seasons for the Demons. He averaged 13.0 points and 6.8 rebounds as a junior, and under first-year head coach Wayne Yates, Piper was second on the team with a 14.6 scoring average and averaged 7.9 rebounds in his senior season at NSU. He had a career-best 33 point game as a senior in a win over Portland State.