Ah, that was more like it. The BYU basketball team that has spent the last month struggling shooting the ball while under-whelming its followers, and even itself, took a season-high crowd Saturday at the Marriott Center and made a positively predictable afternoon out of facing New Mexico.

The Cougars scored all of their baskets but one off an assist in the first half, which opened a 20-point lead and led to a not-as-close-as-it-appears 83-66 final score at the Marriott Center.

It all started with the release, rotation and -- finally -- splash of Jonathan Tavernari. The struggling sophomore power forward drained his first shot from the baseline and wound up with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 5-of-6 from 3-point range.

"As soon as I made it, and I realized it, I was like, 'wow, I made my first shot,' " Tavernari said after a long hibernation from accuracy. "I hadn't made my first shot in a while."

Sam Burgess (15 points) also experienced that good first-time feeling, nailing a 3-pointer that followed Tavernari's 16-footer to open a 5-2 lead.

What seemed on the scoreboard to be no big deal was, in fact, the beginning of a colossal one.

The rest of the Cougars (15-5 overall, 4-1 Mountain West) fed off that spark as BYU nailed 13-of-16 treys and shot 50.9 percent from the field.

The Cougars had been hovering around, making just one-third of their attempts in each of the last three games, and December's non-conference play didn't finish so hot, either.

A team that had willed itself to consecutive hard-fought wins against Utah and San Diego State with saran-wrap defense and a toughness without the ball not exactly exhibited early in the season -- even head coach Dave Rose used to worry that his team's focus without the ball rested in large part on how the Cougars shot it -- now had everything clicking.

And, boy, did BYU know it.

"I don't know if sigh of relief is the right description," Rose said when asked if it was nice to see Burgess and Tavernari hit their opening tries after combining to hit 10-of-50 during the previous three games. "What you know is that when our team is in a mindset to where they're sharing the ball and we're hitting shots, it allows us to maybe be a little more aggressive -- we're not on our heels as much. And that makes us better defensively.

"The bottom line is you have to figure out what the personality of the game is going to be, and then react to it."

The personality of BYU at this moment: unstoppable.

"If we shoot 80 percent from the 3-point line, nobody in this conference can beat us," Cummard said after totaling a game-high 20 points, five assists and five rebounds.

He also spearheaded a solid defensive effort by jolting UNM leading scorer J.R. Giddens into a four-point night in which he went 2-of-8 from the field. UNM got a good night from Daniel Faris (12 points) and Dairese Gary (19) but not its star.

With the Lobos (16-5, 3-3) trailing 44-24 at halftime, it made for an easy final 20 minutes to run BYU's home-court winning streak to 42 games.

The only disappointment? Memphis also managed to win at home against Gonzaga on Saturday morning, keeping its current streak one game ahead of the Cougars.

Giddens, who averages nearly 14 points, saw just five minutes in the second half. It could be the first time he's drawn the ire of new coach Steve Alford. Or it could've just been a why-bother situation.

This one was wrapped up about eight minutes in. By then Burgess had a pretty underneath reverse, accompanied by a foul shot that he nailed, then his second of three 3-pointers in as many attempts.

The big crowd (19,932) had to know it was going to be as beautiful indoors as it was outside after a long outlet pass left Cummard scrambling out of bounds to save the ball.

He flipped it to Plaisted, who scored an easy bucket but missed the foul shot. That made it 7-2. The junior center finished with 13 points and had as many rebounds -- a charmingly successful night when there was so much to focus on about BYU's perimeter offense.

And Tavernari got going, nailing a trey from the top of the key and holding his right shooting hand high in the air as the ball swished through the net.

It was nine BYU points later, 25-11, after he called demonstratively in the post and hit his second-favorite shot -- a 10-foot turnaround jumper. He gave a proud, and probably somewhat relieved, fist pump.

Tavernari and Rose talked about the same things that have been dissected since this slump began, and even before -- shot selection, rhythm and confidence. The affable Brazilian said there was no superstition or new-found eating habits -- he won't touch grub before the game on account of nerves.

But, oh, the nerve of that Tavernari -- shoot and shoot some more, and then he strikes it big.

To no one's surprise, it finally happened.

"He can break games open faster than anybody in the conference," Cummard said.