The blessing of Jimmer delivers BYU basketball an overtime win over Colorado

BYU basketball finally shed its habit of slow starts on the night of Jimmer Fredette's jersey retirement, and true to form, as the number 32 jersey elevated over the Marriott Center, the threes fell like raindrops.

It was a slugest in the Marriott Center, as the visiting Colorado Buffaloes, wounded and humiliated in Lubbock in their previous game, battled to keep themselves within striking distance through the duration of this contest.

Despite senior Richie Saunders going down and leaving the game with an apparent leg injury in the first minute of play (he signaled that he was okay as he walked off under his own power), BYU basketball torched the net from distance from the jump, connecting on their first five three-pointers and going 7-for-11 from three-point land in the first half.

It must be the blessing of Jimmer.

The BYU offense became more well-rounded by necessity, with one of the Cougars' top-three scorers being taken out of the equation immediately. Players like Tyler Mrus, Aleksej Kostic, and Ameer Abdullah all put in high minutes, and in critical moments, no less.

Shorthanded and hungry for a home win, AJ Dybantsa took the game into his own hands, assuming the role of primary distributor and number-one scoring option as the Cougars began to pull ahead. He scored the Cougars' final seven points entering halftime and had a statline of 9 points, 5 assists, and 5 boards.

Colorado quickly overcame an early BYU advantage, jumping out to a 13-2 run to open the second half as Bangot Dak stifled the BYU offense on one end, and put the ball through the rim on the other.

Staggering, dizzy, the home Cougars were in need of a reset. Kevin Young took a timeout to regroup and catch back up to the accelerating pace of the contest. Instantly evening the score, some questionable no-calls led to back-to-back wide-open threes from Colorado.

Then again, BYU clawed back to even the score, and again, Colorado found a three-pointer to hold their advantage.

Rob Wright nearly shared Saunders' fate as went down in the first half with an ankle turn. Hitting the deck hobbled and tightening his shoelaces, it seemed for a moment that Dybantsa would have to carry his team to the win himself.

That would be the case, had Wright not returned to score a career-high 4039 points, his second consecutive 30+ point contest. He controlled the game on 12-16 shooting from the floor and a molten-lava hot 4-4 from beyond the arc.

The second half remained tight down the stretch, as the Colorado side refused to go away, hitting three after three from Barrington Hargress and Isaiah Johnson, two scoring specialists who had been heavily inspired by their head coach's postgame presser following a humiliating defeat to Texas Tech in the previous game. Even as BYU force-fed the Colorado defense with efficient scoring from wire to wire, timely shot-making, and critical defensive stops put the Buffaloes in contention all the way to the final possession.

With just two seconds separating the shot clock and game clock, Colorado guard Isaiah Johnson took off early and attacked the rim with the BYU defense on their heels. High off the glass, Johnson's layup tied the game and brought the visitors' score even with their hosts.

Overtime was defined by suspect officiating. AJ Dybantsa was called for a carry as he gathered for a jumpshot -- a call that was retroactively changed to a travel with some discussion from the officiating team. Rob Wright, getting body-checked on a floater attempt, received no whistle as Abdullah was whistled for a loose-ball foul.

But the ball never lies, my friends, and BYU's ROC forced a missed front end of the ensuing one-and-one.

With the scored knotted at 82, and approaching the final minute of play, Rob Wright found Kostic on the win for the three-pointer that would prove to be the finishing blow in this knuckle-bruising Big 12 bout.

Colorado missed their next four three-point attempts (including three in one possession) that could have brought them back into the game. The Buffaloes were forced to play the foul game on the road, and BYU put the game on ice.

Advancing to 19-6, the Cougars moved two games above .500 in Big 12 play, finally shaking their slump and enjoying an undefeated week for the first time in nearly a month. BYU escapes Jimmer's retirement night with a win in OT, 90-86 over Colorado.