With cold-blooded accuracy, the Hawaii men’s basketball team made 36 of 38 free throws, including 26 of 27 in the second half, to ice Saturday’s 95-86 road victory over Cal State Fullerton at Titan Gymnasium in Fullerton, Calif.

A crowd of 513 saw the Rainbow Warriors sweep the two-game road trip to improve to 11-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big West. The Titans fell to 5-13 and 0-6.

“Life is short if you don’t enjoy these,” UH coach Eran Ganot said in a radio interview.

In a tightly called game, the referees whistled a combined eight fouls in the first four minutes of the second half, and 31 overall after the intermission.

After UH’s Tanner Christensen was called for goaltending Donovan Oday’s jumper to close the Titans within 70-67 with 8:22 to play, the ’Bows hit back-to-back layups. With 6:36 to play, Tom Beattie caught a pitch-out pass from Christensen and then buried a 3 from the corner to extend the ’Bows’ lead to 77-69.

The Titans entered hitting 18.5% of their 3-point shots in the first five Big West games. Without a deep threat to turn the momentum, the Titans were forced to foul to regain possessions. The ’Bows, who entered converting 69.7% of their free throws, scored their final 12 points on foul shots. They made 21 free throws in a row from 13:37 remaining through the final horn.

“We put a lot of time and effort into our free throws,” Beattie said in a telephone interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, noting every ’Bow is required to make 30 free throws at the end of each practice. “It’s been point of emphasis with Coach (Ganot). In close games, free throws will win you games. That was the main point. Everybody knows to shut a team off at home, on the free-throw line is a good thing to end up with.”

UH associate head coach Brad Davidson said “we practice free throws every day. … It’s nice for the guys to get a reward. It wasn’t just one of them who made it. A bunch of guys stepped up and made free throws.”

With the exception of reserve posts Jerome Palm and Harry Rouhliadeff, every ’Bow who played attempted a free throw. Forward Gytis Nemeiksa made 10 of 11 free throws as part of his game-high 20 points. Christensen, who had 19 points and seven rebounds, was 7-for-8 from the line.

Oday led the Titans with a career-high 29 points, mostly on drives. But the ’Bows were able to challenge the 3-point shots — the Titans were 4-for-18 from deep — and own the boards. The ’Bows constructed a 32-20 advantage in rebounds.

“We always say, ‘no boards, no rings,’” Ganot said. “We’ve always been a good rebounding program, really good. This year we’re off to a really good start there. And that is really important for us.”

Beattie has played well since returning to the starting lineup in the opener of this trip. He had 16 points, including that key corner 3, and four assists.

Christensen also has regained his scoring touch off post moves. Christensen made six of seven shots. In all, the ’Bows made 13 of 14 2-point shots in the second half.

“We’ve had trouble getting him the ball,” Davidson said of Christensen. “But I feel we’ve gotten him the ball in better spots (during this trip). It’s something else we worked on. Everyone is starting to realize if you get (Christensen) the ball, good things happen.”