Jerry Karpowicz

For USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN

It was a chess match contested on a 94-foot-by-50-foot playing surface. That is what the “score, score and score some more” offense Loyola Marymount brought to the court against the “we will, we will stop you” defense of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

It was quite a game seen by a gathering of 2,280 at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles — 30 years ago to the day. Loyola Marymount junior forward Hank Gathers and the nation’s leading offense at 114 points per game did not get all of that. Neither did the Phoenix defense, in the top 10 in the country at 56.1 points allowed per game.

Loyola plummeted 29 points below its offensive average. Good for the visitors. UW-Green Bay gave up a tick shy of 29 points above its norm. Cheers for the home team. Don’t want to do the math? OK. Final: Loyola Marymount 85, UWGB 83.

Rapidly emerging UWGB freshman guard Tony Bennett, a mere 6-foot-nothing guard out of Green Bay Preble High School, had an extraordinary shooting game en route to what at that time was his collegiate-high of 41 points in 34 minutes.

Gathers, who that season would become the second player in Division I history to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding, had 33 points. Senior guard Enoch Simmons made two free throws with 2 seconds left for the winning margin.

All this time later, a withdrawal from the memory bank of Bennett’s father, Dick, then the UWGB coach, provides an interesting addendum. As father recalled and son verified, someone made the 19-year-old Tony an offer that could have altered history.

“There was an Italian man, I don’t know if he was a representative of a pro league in Italy, or was an agent, or whatever,” Dick Bennett said during a recent phone conversation. “He did some research and found out that we were Italian. He basically offered Tony a contract to come over and play in Italy. He would have had to end his college career right then as a freshman. In today’s equation, the money wouldn’t have been much, but at that time it was worth opening your eyes to.

“I didn’t even know about it. He talked to Tony, then Tony told me. It ended as quickly as it came up. I pretty much knew he wasn’t going to do it. But the option was there. The guy really liked Tony and I could see why. That was one of his great shooting games.”

Great? Great understatement. The smooth left-hander was 16-for-20 on field goals, including 7-for-8 on 3-pointers. He also had five assists and five steals.

It could have — would have? should have? — ended differently.

Gathers scored 25 of his 33 points in the first half as Loyola led 53-40 at halftime. Bennett kept the Phoenix within shooting distance with 21 points.

Bennett then scored 10 points in a 19-5 surge that gave the Phoenix a 59-58 lead with 13:20 remaining. In the next 12:55, there were 11 lead changes. But while the Phoenix was rising, Bennett was falling. Fouling, actually.

Curiously, Bennett was called for five fouls in the second half, the last on a basket by junior guard Jeff Fryer that Fryer converted into a 3-point play with 25 seconds left that gave the Lions an 83-81 lead and Bennett a permanent seat on the bench.

“It was unique how that played out, for sure,” Tony Bennett said during a phone interview last weekend.

Fryer was not unhappy to see Bennett leave the game.

“Tony was dropping down a lot of shots,” Fryer said via phone last week. “It was tough to guard him. He was a little left-handed kid scoring all these points, and we couldn’t stop him. We were just fortunate to get a victory in that game.”

Dick Bennett admitted he did not handle the postgame well. He chased after the officials when time ran out, which led to Fryer telling Tony in the handshake line, “You’re a really good player, but your dad’s crazy.”

What would have been really crazy would have been Bennett not fouling out and winning the game on a 3-pointer as time ran out.

“I like the chances,” he said of that alternative scenario. “I like the chances for sure.”

The scenario in which Bennett bolted for Italy quickly disappeared.

“I totally forgot about that,” he said of the mystery man who approached him. “That’s hilarious. Good memory by my dad. I was going to be a one-and-done in a different way.

“Hey, only in L.A., right? So, I’ve got an offer to go play in the Italian League. Become naturalized, with my Italian heritage, and go and make some money. I think I chose wisely to stay.”

Bennett found the trip down memory lane amusing, laughing at almost every aspect of that night when brought up.

“Look, we’re young guys who play in Wisconsin, it’s probably 20-below zero back there (it was about 20-above),” Bennett said. “My buddy, Ben Johnson, in the layup line, warmups, we always liked the song, ‘I love L.A.’ by Randy Newman. You know (the lyric), ‘… We love it. …’ It was blaring during warmups, and Ben and I looked at each other like, this is pretty cool.

“But we knew it was going to be a contrast in styles and a challenge with the talent that they had.

“Of course, I remember how many open shots I got from the 3-point line.”

Loyola Marymount wanted to score and score quickly, often during the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. It wanted to press on defense, force turnovers and score. Shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot. Score.

“They wanted you to shoot quick, and I got a few clean, open looks that I didn’t usually get,” Tony Bennett said. “My stroke was feeling good that day, so it was pretty easy.

“Some of them I just couldn’t pass up. They were, lace up the ball, and I’m shooting these. I was feeling it. But I got a lot of clean looks. After I made a few, I think they guarded me a little more, but they gave me some 3s in transition.

“They would press you, and they would give you that open look. I’m going to take a wide-open shot. There are some guys that have green lights, and maybe that was the advantage of playing for my pops. But I had a green light the way I was shooting it, and it was going in.”

If only he had gotten a chance to make one more.

Catching up

Dick Bennett is retired and living in central Wisconsin. He was on his way to a Milwaukee Bucks game when reached.

Fryer runs the Fryer Basketball Academy in Orange County, Calif. In the 1990 NCAA tournament, he made a standing tournament record of 11 3-point baskets in a 34-point, second-round victory over Michigan in nearby Long Beach. It was 14 days after Gathers collapsed and later died during a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference tournament at Gampel Pavilion.

Tony Bennett, who scored what would be his collegiate high of 44 points 44 days later, continues to rank first in NCAA history for career 3-point field goal accuracy at 49.7 percent. As a senior, he was awarded the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the nation’s top player under 6 feet tall and was named Academic All-American of the year.

His NBA career was cut short by a foot injury after two full seasons and three games of a third. He resumed playing in New Zealand, eventually becoming a player/coach. He worked under his father at Wisconsin, joined his staff at Washington State and succeeded him there before taking the Virginia job in 2009. He is in his 13th season as a college coach.

Last season, his Cavaliers won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season — losing once — and tournament championship to earn the No. 1 ranking and No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. He and the Cavaliers have put behind them the first-round tournament loss to 16th-seeded Maryland-Baltimore County by taking a 12-0 record into their ACC opener Saturday against Florida State.