BYU’s Craig Cusick Hits Game-Winner upon Learning of Dad’s Cancer

A December non-conference game tragically postponed because of a medical emergency was resolved by a storybook ending — a sparingly-used senior playing in honor of his father’s own medical emergency canning the game-winner.

Reserve BYU guard Craig Cusick was playing with a heavy heart in his team’s raincheck game against Utah State on Tuesday. His father, Randy, had collapsed last Sunday and was rushed to a local hospital, where doctors discovered a tumor two days later amid a routine scan.

Just hours before tip-off in Provo, the junior Cusick had learned his father had cancer.

What happened thereafter can only be owed to the magical healing power of sports. Mired in an 0-for-6 shooting slump on the night and searching for an opportunity to leave his mark on the game, the 3-point specialist and former junior college transfer had the ball in his hands — midair at that — with a chance to write a fairytale ending. Johnny on the spot didn’t flub the opportunity, etching his signature on college basketball’s most heartwarming moment of the season.

The non-conference showdown — originally slated for December 5 — had to be rescheduled in response to the then-critical condition of Aggies junior forward Danny Berger, who collapsed during practice that week after suffering a sudden heart attack. Mere minutes from death and needing the valiant assistance of an assistant coach to remain alive, Berger has since made a full recovery.

May Randy Cusick follow in his fortune.