You’d have a hard time convincing BYU fans the halftime show on Wednesday night wasn’t the best ever.

It wasn’t the BYU dunk team that caught their eye, nor was Red Panda in the house spinning plates.

It was the future of Cougar basketball.

While the two teams were in the locker room, the lights dimmed and the PA announcer asked fans to turn on their cell phone flashlights before introducing future Cougar A.J. Dybantsa, the No. 1 college basketball recruit in the country who declared his commitment to BYU on ESPN’s First Take Tuesday morning.

Dybantsa raised his hands to acknowledge the applause and smiled, slapping hands with fans and soaking in the love of Cougar Nation as he took a lap around the court.

It was good, just like a family atmosphere,” Dybantsa said after the game. “Everybody was sharing and loving. Letting the world know (his college choice) feels good, now I’m stress free.”

As for the game against Fresno State, BYU put on a pretty good show for their future teammate, shooting 55% from the field and making 14 3-pointers and earning a dominating 95-67 victory. Cougar coach Kevin Young started off the post-game news conference talking about defense, which he felt was much better than in last week’s loss at Providence.

“Outside of the stretch where they (Fresno State) started chipping away and they turned us over, I thought our defense was good,” Young said.” I thought our compactness on defense was where we wanted it tonight. That was a major point of emphasis coming in.”

Trevin Knell led the Cougars with 22 points on 8 of 11 from the field and 4 of 6 from the 3-point line. He also added a career-best 10 rebounds — his first career double-double — and two assists. Richie Saunders (17 points), Dawson Baker (14), Dallin Hall (13), Keba Keita (12) and Kanon Catchings (10) joined Knell in double figures.

The shooting performance was a nice bounce back from last week at Providence, where BYU’s starting five shot 9-of-41 from the field (22.0%). That was the fifth-worst shooting numbers by a Cougar starting lineup since the 1986-87 season.

“We had more than one shooter clicking on all cylinders,” Young said. “I thought the ball was popping out there. We’re a team where if you make a mistake we can make you pay, which I love.”

Jalen Weaver topped Fresno State (3-7) with 15 points.

BYU was running smoothly on the offensive end, shooting better than 60% for much of the first half. The Cougars and Bulldogs matched baskets through the first nine minutes of the first half and Fresno State held a 20-19 lead with 11:51 to play.

From that point, BYU took off on a 13-3 run, which included 3-pointers from Knell and Fousseyni Traore along with a slick between-the-legs crossover move by Catchings for a 3-point play. BYU led 32-23 and finished on a 12-2 blitz, including a step-back 3-pointer from Hall to beat the shot clock. Knell got an offensive rebound and scored before the halftime buzzer and the Cougars led 44-27 at the break.

Knell topped BYU with 10 points and Saunders had eight. Catchings finished with seven, including a rim-rocking one-handed dunk that got the crowd up out of their seats. The Cougars finished at 56.3% (18 of 32) from the field and 39% (7 of 18) from the 3-point line while outrebounding Fresno State 22-12.

BYU started the second half 8 of 13 (62%) from the field and an 11-3 run, with five points from Knell and four points from Keta, pushing the lead to 22 points at 63-41 with 14:13 to play. In the first eight minutes of the second half, the Cougars lit up the scoreboard with 29 points.

Fresno State’s full court press caused some problems for BYU, which turned the ball over 17 times. An 11-0 run by the Bulldogs got them back to within 16 at 73-57 but the Cougars had plenty of offense left to maintain a comfortable lead throughout.

Dybantsa wasn’t the only star in the house on Wednesday. BYU football coach Kalani Sitake was taking in the game, along with Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy and Jazz owner Ryan Smith.

Freshman Egor Demin did not play against Fresno State, sitting the game out due to a lower leg injury suffered last week at Providence. Young said Demin will miss about a week and half until they re-evaluate his status.

BYU (7-2) will travel to Salt Lake City on Saturday for a game against former Mountain West Conference foe Wyoming in the Delta Center.