The centerpiece of Heroes Night at the Save Mart Center is a basketball game - Fresno State, coming off an impressive victory over Idaho, takes on Utah State in a Western Athletic Conference game.

But one of the highlights of the program will come before the game when Henry LeMay, a veteran of the Korean War and recipient of the Purple Heart, sings the national anthem.

LeMay puts every bit of his experiences into his rendition.

''To me, it's a precious song,'' Le May said. ''To me, the anthem is honoring the people that fought and died for this country. Maybe the anthem wasn't around in the days of George Washington or the early founding fathers, but it was being born at that time.

''It amplifies what they lyrics say - the land of the free and the home of the brave. To me that it is what it's all about and when it was written, with the bombs going off in the air, our brave young men fighting for it and dying for it ... it's the blood of this country. That's what it means to me. That's something that I hold very dear to my heart; the freedom that it stands for, the rights that it stands for and all of the other freedoms that it stands for.''

The Fresno resident said that he cringes sometimes when he hears an overly-styled rendition of the national anthem. That is not what those at the Save Mart Center will hear tonight from LeMay.

''To me it's not just another song. It's an anthem,'' he said. ''That's what it was intended to be - a solemn anthem, speaking of the freedoms we all enjoy today.''

LeMay, who sang God Bless America at halftime of the Bulldogs' game earlier this season, will be on the court with the Fresno Fire Department Color Guard. Wounded Warriors will be honored at halftime, and local heroes and their families also will be honored throughout the game.

Tickets for police officers, firefighters, paramedics, active military personnel and veterans in the Central Valley have been discounted to $5 for the 7 p.m. tipoff.