Somebody lit a fire under the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team late Thursday night and Hauns Brereton was the one holding the match, again.

Two games after his double-pump 3-pointer sent the Rainbow Warriors to overtime in an eventual 84-82 upset of then-14th-ranked Xavier in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, Brereton came off the bench to play another starring — and stirring — role.

This time it was a UH-career-high 22-point night that roused a somnolent UH team from its stupor to shell South Carolina State 100-73 in a game that need not have been even that close.

Presumably the now 8-5 ’Bows were looking ahead to Saturday’s date with 19th-ranked Nevada-Las Vegas. Because wherever their focus was it wasn’t on the 4-9 Bulldogs and it wasn’t in the vicinity of the Stan Sheriff Center in a first half after which they trailed 42-41.

It really shouldn’t have taken any heroics for the ’Bows to dispatch the traveling rent-a-foes from Orangeburg, S.C. Just average free-throw accuracy would have done that. But 6-for-16 shooting in the first half — it reached the depths of 6-for-19 at one point early in the second half — symbolized UH’s wandering concentration and early struggles.

Fortunately for the ’Bows the

6-foot, 6-inch Brereton was at his UH career best, which is beginning to really mean something for a team that has desperately needed a second dependable outsider shooter.

Brereton made four of five first-half field-goal attempts — and both 3-point tries — for 10 first-half points to keep the ’Bows within striking distance of the Bulldogs.

Then, in the second half Brereton struck the deciding blows, scoring nine of UH’s first 11 points, including two 3-pointers, to give the ’Bows their first leads of the game and an eventual 53-48 lead that was never to be threatened.

Overall Brereton made good on nine of 12 shots, including four of five 3-pointers, and added five rebounds and two steals.

It has made for a memorable week for Brereton, who went into the Xavier game averaging all of four points a game through UH’s first 10 contests. It was a beginning that hardly lived up to the marksman-like expectations that Brereton brought with him from Western Nebraska Community College, where he had been a 40 percent 3-point shooter.

But that breakout 13-point performance against Xavier has given Brereton a cool confidence that was on display before a crowd of about 4,000 Thursday night.

Suddenly, on the heels of the Xavier game, he has put up 10 and 22 points, opening eyes and, for the ’Bows, opportunities heading into the Western Athletic Conference season.

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