If Eran Ganot’s doctors had scribbled a feel-good prescription for the head coach’s return to the University of Hawaii basketball sidelines, it might have looked a lot like Sunday night’s game.

For his comeback from a 51-day medical leave for still-undisclosed conditions, the Rainbow Warriors presented Ganot with the most stress-free environment he’s likely to experience this season in a 91-51 rout of Maine that was UH’s widest margin of victory over a Division I opponent since an 85-41 blitz of Oregon State in 2006.

Ganot, whose leave was announced prior to the Nov. 8 regular-season opener, made his first appearance out of the Stan Sheriff Center tunnel seven minutes before tip-off to cheers from the crowd while attempting to hold back emotion.

And he didn’t have to wait long for his team to seize control of the night. Two minutes and 47 seconds into this one Ganot could look up at the Jumbotron that showed a 10-0 lead and exhale as the Black Bears (3-10) never got closer than 6 points thereafter and spent much of the night looking at record-threatening deficits.

The Black Bears, who were on the longest journey a basketball team can make between NCAA Division I teams within U.S. borders, 5,150 miles from Orono, Maine, to Honolulu, found themselves unable to make up ground on the court as well.

Even for a team that had lost three consecutive games by 20 points or more, this turned ugly.

They were down by 20 points with 4 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the first half and hit the 37-point depths in the second half when UH went on a 27-7 rampage for a 71-34 command.

About the only drama to surround this one was whether the ’Bows would hit the 100-point mark for the first time since 2017 and when UH would hit the 62-point mark for the promotion that provides tacos for ticket holders.

Alas, the answer to the first question was, no, but that was about all that eluded them in breezing to their ninth victory against five losses. It matches the most wins of any UH team heading into Big West Conference play since the NCAA-bound 2015-16 squad went 11-2.

The tacos were assured with 14 minutes, 23 seconds remaining, the earliest that milestone has been hit.

Truth be told, those first two-plus minutes served to soothe a lot of other UH partisans in the 2,811 in attendance as well. Three-point specialist Eddie Stansberry, who had suffered through two-of-28 shooting from behind the arc in the three games of the Diamond Head Classic, confidently squared up and hit the first two shots of Sunday night, both 3-pointers, for a 6-0 lead.

And Samuta Avea, who had also struggled in the final two games of the DHC, had 7 of UH’s first 13 points against out-manned Maine.

Between them, Stansberry’s 21 points and Avea’s career-high 17 points helped propel to 58% shooting (41.2% from 3-point range) on a free-wheeling night when all 11 Rainbows who played managed to score.

Suddenly, for one runaway night, it seemed all was right with the ’Bows again as they prepare for their next assignment, the Jan. 9 Big West opener at Cal State Fullerton.

Meanwhile, 15 minutes after the game had concluded and the arena had emptied, several Maine players returned to the court to work on their shooting.

This one was such a blowout, though, that you got the feeling they still could have shot for quite a while unmolested without catching up to UH’s 91 points.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.