- published: 02 Mar 2011
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Wilt Chamberlain set the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association (NBA) by scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169–147 win over the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, at Hershey Sports Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It is widely considered one of the greatest records in basketball. Chamberlain set five other league records that game including most free throws made, a notable achievement for the poor free throw shooter. The teams broke the record for most combined points in a game (316). That season, Chamberlain averaged a record 50.4 points per game, and he had broken the NBA single-game scoring record (71) earlier in the season in December with 78 points. The third-year center had already set season scoring records in his first two seasons. In the fourth quarter, the Knicks began fouling other players to keep the ball away from Chamberlain, and they also became deliberate on offense to reduce the number of possessions for Philadelphia. The Warriors countered by committing fouls of their own to get the ball back.
In basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free throws or field goals. When an individual player scores 100 points in a single game, it is a rare achievement. Only a small percentage of players have ever accomplished this feat in an organized basketball game. What follows is an incomplete list of all of the verified occurrences of players scoring 100 points or more. Each individual instance of the achievement may have had different circumstances surrounding it, such as game length, opponent skill level and the league in which it occurred.
In the United States, 100-point games have occurred at least once at most levels of education. At the middle school level, 13-year old 8th grader Bob Harrison scored all 139 of his team's points in a 139–8 win on February 3, 1941. In high school, there have been 24 verified occurrences, 19 by male players and 5 by female players. The first recorded instance was on March 8, 1913, when Herman Saygar of Culver High School (Indiana) scored 113 points against Winamac High School. The first female to score 100 points at the high school level was Denise Long of Union-Whitten High School (Iowa), who scored 111 points during a state playoff game in the spring of 1968 against Dows High School. That season, Long's senior year of 1967–68, she averaged a still-standing national record 68.2 points per game. Her single game total stood as the high school female record for 38 years until Epiphanny Prince scored 113 for Murry Bergtraum High School (New York) on February 2, 2006. The boys' high school record is 135 points, scored by Danny Heater on January 26, 1960. Playing for Burnsville High School (West Virginia) against Widen High School, Heater made 53-of-70 field goals and 29-of-41 free throws. His 135-point outburst is still the highest total for the high school level worldwide.