On March 2, 1962, the all time record for points scored in a single NBA basketball game was set, when what great athlete scored how many points?

The single-game scoring record in professional basketball was set on March 2, 1962, in a surprisingly low-profile game in Hershey, Pennsylvania. On that historic night, Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain accomplished a feat that still seems mythical: he scored an even 100 points in a 169-147 victory over the New York Knicks. This performance shattered his own previous record of 78 points and established a benchmark that has never been seriously challenged in the decades since.

Chamberlain's dominance was absolute. He made 36 of his 63 field goal attempts and, remarkably for a notoriously poor free-throw shooter, sank 28 of his 32 attempts from the foul line. As he neared the century mark, the game devolved into a spectacle. The Knicks began fouling other Warriors players to keep the ball away from Chamberlain, while the Warriors would immediately foul the Knicks to stop the clock and get the ball back for their star center. The final basket came with just 46 seconds remaining, sending the small crowd into a frenzy.

The 100-point game was the pinnacle of a season of unprecedented individual achievement, in which Chamberlain averaged an astounding 50.4 points per game, another record that will likely never be broken. Adding to the legend is the fact that the game was not televised, leaving only radio broadcasts and eyewitness accounts to tell the story. The closest any player has come is Kobe Bryant's 81-point performance in 2006, a testament to just how untouchable Wilt's century mark remains in the annals of sports history.