DAVIS, Calif. >> Hawaii coach Eran Ganot doesn’t like seeing his team down late in games.

This time it was a 13-point deficit with five minutes remaining. But it was more than enough time for his Rainbow Warriors squad to string together another comeback victory.

Samuta Avea buried a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining as Hawaii closed out the game on an 18-3 run to rally for a 67-65 win over UC Davis in a Big West basketball game on Thursday night at The Pavilion.

Avea hit all four of his 3-pointers in the game’s final 3:45. His 3 from the left corner gave Hawaii a 66-65 lead with three seconds remaining, his team’s first lead of the second half. Avea finished with a career-high 18 points for Hawaii (17-12, 8-7 Big West).

It’s the sixth time this season the Rainbow Warriors rallied late in the game for a victory. Hawaii also beat UC Davis 76-75 on Eddie Stansberry’s 3-pointer on Jan. 18 in Honolulu.

“That’s a crazy game to be part of,” Ganot said. “You might have one of those in terms of comebacks every four, five years. We’ve had five or six this year.

“If anything it was a belief that we’ve been here before. It’s not the situation we want to be in, but there’s a lot of time, a lot of possessions.”

Down 65-63, Hawaii called a timeout with 17 seconds remaining. The initial play was for Stansberry to take the shot. When that didn’t materialize, Avea hit the go-ahead shot.

“Drew (Buggs) had the ball and he was looking for Eddie on a flare screen,” Avea said. “They (Aggies) kind of blew it up. I called for the ball and luckily Eddie set me a screen to get a good look.”

Added Buggs: “He had the hot hand, so I gave it to Samuta. He did the rest. He’s a great player. We have all the confidence in the world in him taking that shot, especially when he’s hot like that.”

Stansberry then drew a charge on Elijah Pepper on the inbounds play and Justin Hemsley was fouled on the next play. He made the first free throw, but missed his second for a 67-65 lead. UC Davis called a timeout with 0.9 seconds remaining. The Aggies’ inbounds pass was intercepted by Hemsley at halfcourt to end the game.

Hawaii’s Zigmars Raimo scored 14 points and Hemsley added 11 points in 14 minutes off the bench, most of that time with him in foul trouble. Stansberry scored 10 in the win.

Ezra Manjon led UC Davis with 18 points (14-17, 8-7) and Pepper and Caleb Fuller added 11 each before a crowd of 1,648.

“We’ve been in these situations before,” Buggs said. “We’re a battle-tested team. We knew that we were down and it was make or break. If we wanted to get this win, we had to dig in on the defensive end and execute offensively. We’ve got a team that doesn’t quit.”

Damion Squire’s 3-pointer gave the Aggies their biggest lead of the game at 60-47 with 7:08 remaining. The Aggies were still up 13 following two free throws from Pepper with 4:42 left.

Raimo made one of two free throws before Avea connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to help Hawaii close to 62-56 with 3:17 remaining. Hawaii then forced a shot clock violation, Avea drained another 3 and Hemsley’s dunk off a steal had Hawaii within 62-61 with 2:11 remaining.

“Really proud of our defensive possessions late and the guys executed late,” Ganot said. “And give Samuta a lot of credit for struggling most of the game, particularly from the perimeter, and making big shots.”

Pepper hit a 3 to put the Aggies up 65-61, but Raimo made two free throws to cut the margin to 65-63 with 1:30 remaining.

“It’s definitely not healthy for us,” Avea said. “It definitely shows the fight we have in our team. We’ve been through a lot of adversity throughout the year, but we’re ready to bring it all together and hopefully get another win on Saturday and keep the momentum going into the (Big West) tournament.”

Hawaii concludes the regular season at Cal State Northridge on Saturday.