The University of Hawaii men’s basketball team came sprinting out of the gates, then kept up the pace to secure a 92-73 win over Niagara on Thursday.

The Rainbow Warriors put on a show for the turnstile crowd of 1,862 at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center to improve to 2-0.

Noel Coleman caught fire early, scoring 15 of his game-high 21 points in the first half. Bernardo da Silva and Jovon McClanahan each added 14 points, while Justin McKoy scored 12 points and grabbed a game-best 11 rebounds.

“He’s one of our guys, he’s one of our key guys,” UH coach Eran Ganot said about Coleman. “Even when he’s on the floor, just like you saw in the second half, (Niagara), as most teams would, made an adjustment.

“So all those actions for the other guys, that was because he was on the floor. And that’s how we sacrifice for each other. Some guys force it, but other guys continue to play right and he played right the whole game. Shot a good percentage. He had a couple shots that probably could have gone in, but his patience, his confidence, that’s maturity, to continue to take what the defense gives you, and then when teams adjust to your hot shooting, other guys took advantage. That’s why the paint was open. I’m really proud of his development.”

Ganot also praised McKoy’s rebounding.

“When you’re a good player, you affect games in different ways,” the UH coach said. “We’re balanced. We want to be balanced offensively, defensively, on the glass. Taking care of the ball’s gotta be better, but if we can do that, if we can be balanced and consistent, we won’t have bad games. We might not shoot it well, but the defense will be with us, the rebounding. So Justin, he’s still sticking 3s, but if people are gonna cover him more, he has other ways to impact the game. On the glass, his leadership, his playmaking. People come up on him because he can shoot it, he can get in the paint and make a play for a teammate. I think he’s moving in a good direction.”

Niagara scored the first points of the game on Ahmad Henderson II’s layup, but UH quickly took over the game with a 14-0 run.

Braxton Bayless scored for Niagara to briefly break up the UH scoring run, but the ’Bows responded with six straight points to take their biggest lead of the first half at 20-4.

Coleman knocked down a trio of 3-pointers during the run and scored 11 of UH’s first 20 points.

The Purple Eagles made up ground with a 9-2 run to cut it back within single digits, then Juan Munoz knocked down back-to-back 3s to push the UH lead back up to 15. The ’Bows maintained a double-digit lead for the final 9:45 of the first half.

Niagara cut the deficit back to single digits twice in the opening minute of the second half, but UH again responded with back-to-back buckets. Neither team could seize control in the evenly matched start to the second half.

With both teams battling, the Rainbow Warriors effectively put the game away with an 8-0 scoring drive that pushed their lead to 20. Coleman again led the charge with the first four points of the run, while Munoz and Seck each added two points.

UH held leads of at least 20 points for most of the final 10 minutes, including a game-high 24-point lead with 6:35 left to play. Niagara made a late push and finished the game on a 12-9 run, but most of it came when the ending was no longer in doubt and the ’Bows had eased up on the reins.

After leaving the game early due to foul trouble, McClanahan made a big impact in the second half. He scored 12 of his 14 points in the second to help the ’Bows cruise to a win.

The Rainbow Warriors’ next game will be on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. against Northern Arizona at the Sheriff Center.