From Start, Selvy Was Hot

Eleven days after Bevo Francis became the first player to score at least 100 points in a college basketball game, Frank Selvy became the second. And no player since has come close.

Francis scored 113 for Division II Rio Grande against Hillsdale on Feb. 2, 1954; Selvy scored 100 for Division I Furman against Division II Newberry on Feb. 13.

In the 45 seasons since, the most any player has scored is 81, by Portland State’s Freeman Williams in 1978.

“One thing I remember about that game is that I got off to a great start--I got the opening tip and scored within two seconds,” Selvy said recently from his home in Simpsonville, S.C., 15 miles from the Furman campus.

Selvy, 66, went on to a nine-season NBA career, most of the last five with the Lakers.

Selvy’s best-remembered game is also the answer to a South Carolina sports trivia question: “What was the first sports event ever televised in South Carolina?”

“That was special, that so many people saw it,” he said.

In 1954, Selvy led Division I in scoring for the second season in a row. His 41.7-point average that season was not exceeded by a Division I player until Pete Maravich’s 43.8 in 1968.

In the 100-point game, he made 41 of 66 shots and 18 of 22 free throws. He had 94 points with 30 seconds remaining in a game Furman won, 145-95. He also led the Paladins with 13 rebounds.

His 100th point was a 40-footer at the final horn.

“Some people might remember me as a shooter, but in college I was an inside player,” said Selvy, 6 feet 3.

“If my shot wasn’t falling, I’d go inside and post up.”