The bombardier has landed.
Jonathan Tavernari, a gunner if there ever was one, broke BYU's all-time 3-point shooting record Saturday in a lopsided 69-43 win over San Francisco in Energy Solutions Arena.
Famous for rarely turning down a shot from any range, in this game the Brazilian Bomber took to his work with great patience. His shot selection was calm, composed and self-restrained. Tavernari followed BYU's game plan of passing the ball around like a plate of fruit, setting things up, trying to go inside out.
On this night, unlike his frosty 1 for 11 effort in Logan on Wednesday, he was the quintessential team captain, taking everybody's name, queuing his mates in like a bow-tied troubadour.
He had to, he was a starter who didn't start.
Tavernari's record shot came with 8:51 left in the game to put the Cougars up 54-38.
He came off a baseline screen set by Noah Hartstock on a designed, set play, he planted his toes to the bomb line and launched the ball with perfect rotation. It snapped the cotton and before the average crowd of 10,106 made any noise, you could hear the net recoil from the 10th row.
Tavernari busted Mark Bigelow's record of 213 3-pointers and he's got 27 or so more games to add to his total of 214. His record comes on his 564th attempts, 11 less than Bigelow took for Steve Cleveland when he finished in 2004.
"I really proud of him. It's quite an accomplishment, he's a terrific shooter," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "I watched Mark Bigelow get that record and watched how hard Mark worked and how many shots he took every day. J.T. is every bit as hard of a worker if not more. He spends so much time at it."
At times in his career, Tavernari's shooting resembled a windmill chopping at thick air. But when he's on and in his comfort zone, Tavernari can fill up a scoreboard as fast as anybody.
In this season, Tavernari's taken a lot of shots off a move or dribble, relying on fade-aways that fell short after bounding off the front of the rim. In good times, he's got extremely strong hands and a launch that is deadly as it is silky, a stroke that looks laser-fed to the bottom of the net.
The record breaker was just that kind of shot on Saturday.
To that point in the game, Tavernari went 1 for 4 in the first half — shades of his struggles against the Aggies in the Spectrum three nights before. But he made 2 of his 3 attempts in the second half from the field and went the bench with 4:13 left in the game with his team ahead 67-37. On the final sheet, he was 2 of 5 from beyond the arc.
His record day also marked the first time this season he didn't start when the game began. Instead, he came off the bench, something he said he'd done many times in his BYU and Brazilian national team career.
"After my sophomore year, I figured I could do it, but it wasn't something I was looking forward to, but it's pretty neat," said Tavernari.
"It's a combination of my coaches running plays for me, my teammates finding me and the support of my family and wife. The record I really want is in March, I want to help this team win four straight championships, I've never experienced that before.'
Tavernari said he's come off the bench his freshman and sophomore years. "It gives me some more options, playing the three or four position. My natural position is the two."
"I'm fine. It's a process. Whatever I have to do for us to be successful, I'll do."
Tavernari said BYU's got far more worries right now than his record, rattling off that the Cougars have to work harder on defense, have better shot selection and rebound harder.
"We're 6-1 and have we have a lot of problems. Being 6-1 is a good thing, but the day we stop trying is the day we don't deserve anything."
Against the Dons, Tavernari scored 10 points in 25 minutes.
"If I start second-guessing myself," said Tavernari, "I'm in a boatload of trouble."
"It's nice to see him hit a few big shots and get the record out of the way," said Rose, "Now we can move on and maybe they'll start going in again."
e-mail: dharmon@desnews.com