Dybantsa, Wright rally No. 10 BYU from 22-point 2nd-half deficit to top Clemson in Jimmy V Classic

PROVO — From his poster in Times Square to the second half at Madison Square Garden, AJ Dybantsa took over basketball in the Big Apple to set up BYU’s biggest second-half comeback in program history.

Robert Wright III finished it.

Dybantsa scored 22 of his 28 points after the break to go along with nine rebounds and six assists, and Wright beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer to rally No. 10 BYU from a 22-point second-half deficit for a 67-64 win over Clemson in Game 1 of the Jimmy V Classic.

Wright finished with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Cougars; and Keba Keita added 10 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

But just over a second left and the game tied at 64-64, BYU coach Kevin Young drew up one final play to try to push the Cougars to 8-1. The first option — admittedly, Dybantsa, as if that’s a surprise — was defended well.

So, too, was the second for Richie Saunders, who had 5 points and four rebounds.

That left Wright wide open to take the in-bounds pass from Mihailo Boskovic in the Mecca of basketball for the point guard’s first game-winner since his freshman year of high school, he estimated.

“I told Mihai, look for me; I’m gonna be open,” Wright told BYU Radio. “Then I got the ball and I knocked it down.”

Jestin Porter led Clemson with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists, and RJ Godfrey added 13 points and five boards for the Tigers (7-3).

But the second half belonged to Dybantsa, who outscored Clemson by himself 22-21. The 6-foot-9 jumbo wing who is projected to be an NBA draft lottery pick also had five assists to the Tigers’ three, including two to Keita for a pair of dunks that gave BYU its first lead of the second half with less than four minutes remaining.

“He can hurt you in so many different ways,” Young said of Dybantsa. “I thought those two passes were as impressive as anything he did.”

It’s the largest second-half comeback in BYU men’s basketball history, a 22-point deficit that former Utah transfer (and one-time BYU signee out of Timpview High) Jake Wahlin gave the Tigers just 10 seconds after halftime.

Before that, the game was all Clemson.

Utah Valley transfer Carter Welling, the former WAC Defensive Player of the Year out of Draper’s Corner Canyon, had 7 points, three rebounds and a block in the first eight minutes to keep Clemson within striking range, and Porter capped an 8-0 run to give the Tigers a 30-22 lead with 3-pointer with 4:53 left in the half.

Clemson outrebounded the Cougars 20-11 and used a 24-3 run to stretch the Tigers’ lead to as high as 43-22 on Porter’s fourth triple with 59 seconds left in the half.

Porter had 14 points and three assists in the first half, and the Cougars didn’t score for the final 6:43 en route to the 21-point halftime lead. Clemson shot 45% from the field before the break, had a 24-15 advantage on the glass, and outscored the Cougars’ bench 14-2 en route to the big second-half lead.

Dybantsa scored 7 points during a 10-1 run to open the second half, then added two more from the free-throw line to help BYU pull within six minutes after the break.

Clemson made just one of its first 11 attempts of the second half, a number boosted by BYU’s three steals and a 12-6 advantage on the glass that included five offensive rebounds.

The game tilted so far in favor of BYU that Keita’s fastbreak dunk skewed the entire basketball standard and forced a lengthy delay midway through the second half. Yet it didn’t slow down Dybantsa, who hit back-to-back jumpers out of the extended break to cap an 20-3 run and pull the Cougars within 47-42 with 9:55 remaining.

He didn’t have to score to impact the game, either; Dybantsa found Keita for consecutive dunks to give BYU a 55-54 lead 3:17 left to play.

But Hunter tied the game at 64-all with five seconds remaining — leaving just enough time for Wright’s buzzer-beating game-winner.

“I wasn’t sure how the game would turn when he broke the hoop,” Young said. “It ended up helping us because all of our starters got to rest for another 10 minutes, and I think that helped us push through the stretch run.”

After six straight games away from the Marriott Center (including two at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City), BYU returns home Saturday to host UC Riverside. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MST on ESPN+.