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Las Vegas

Just when Jimmer Fredette seemingly was fading, when continually carrying the BYU Cougars was looking like too much to ask of him, he delivered a performance that made everything else in his glorious career seem like just a warm-up.

His 52-point effort against New Mexico was remarkable, even for him. Start with how BYU needed almost all of that scoring from him in an 87-76 victory in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center. Consider also that only one of those points came via a free throw.

Then, mix in the lifetime achievements — a career-high game, while Fredette overtook Danny Ainge as BYU's all-time scoring leader — and his sense of the moment, and you have a Las Vegas production that validated everything this guy has done in four seasons of college basketball.

Only Jimmer could need 50 points to top both himself and Ainge on the same night, and make it all happen in a meaningful game for his 30-3 team.

Fredette declared it all "something I'll never forget."

Who will? These scenes helped capture the memory:

In the first half, when Fredette was making everything, BYU reserve Brock Zylstra stood along the sideline, grinned broadly and stuck imaginary guns into holsters.

During a timeout after hitting 50, Fredette walked around the huddle, clenched his fists and screamed in celebration as he looked into the crowd.

And in the final seconds, when BYU coach Dave Rose at last felt confident enough to replace Fredette, the two exchanged a simple, double high-five.

Until then, no way was Rose going to take him out, even though Fredette appeared very tired in the middle of the second half.

"Jimmer would have been a little upset, probably," Rose said.

Rose's only concession was to play a zone defense, keeping Fredette from having to run around screens and enabling him to rest without sitting.

Fredette went 22 for 37 from the field; his teammates were 12 for 31. That's not to dismiss the efforts of freshman Kyle Collinsworth, senior Jackson Emery and the rest, just an acknowledgment that if anybody was doubting Fredette's ability to do everything necessary offensively, he delivered.

The Lobos summoned a courageous effort, while losing senior guard Dairese Gary to a knee injury early in the second half. Then again, Gary's presence up until then says even more about Fredette's first-half production, as he scored 33 of BYU's 47 points.

Fredette's great shooting was magnified because he had not topped 50 percent in any game since Jan. 26. Each half was impressive in its own way. He was 14 for 20 for 33 points in the first half, knowing that BYU needed a strong start after losing to the Lobos by 18 points in Provo last week. "He's the one that kind of figures out the nights that he has to have big offensive nights," Rose said.

And then, after starting slowly in the second half and seemingly wearing down, Fredette found his shot again.

The historic sequence was an old-fashioned three-point play. That allowed the drama to take hold in front of a sellout crowd, heavily favoring BYU. Fredette's shot in the lane gave him 49 to eclipse Ainge; the free throw gave him 50 for his own high — and everybody knew it, including Fredette, because the scoreboards at both ends of the building track players' point totals.

"I don't know if it's always correct or not," he said.

In this case, the numbers were dead on. Just like the guy who produced them.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.comTwitter: @tribkurt