Reese Morgan and Cal Poly brought Hawaii crashing back to earth.

The Mustangs dismissed UH’s gaudy nonconference record and dealt the Rainbow Warriors a stunning 61-57 defeat in overtime to open Big West play before a Wednesday night crowd of 4,817 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Cal Poly won the 2014 Big West tournament and showed why with some steely late-game execution. Morgan made the go-ahead 3-pointer from the corner with 6.9 seconds left, then followed with the game-sealing free throws when Roderick Bobbitt threw the ball away on an inbounds pass with 3.8 seconds left.

"It was back and forth," said UH forward Aaron Valdes, who tied for game-high honors with 20 points. "We made plays and they made plays, and they made the last play, and that’s what happened."

UH’s familiar foil improved to 3-2 in Honolulu and won for the sixth time in the last seven games in the series. The Mustangs succeeded in turning it into a grind of a game, although UH pressed throughout and forced 18 turnovers on the team which came in leading the nation with an average of just 8.4 giveaways.

UH (12-5, 0-1) must try to regroup for Cal State Northridge (4-12, 0-1) on Saturday at the Sheriff.

The ‘Bows battled back from an early 12-point deficit. They trailed by seven at halftime and drew even late in regulation.

Valdes (five steals) intercepted a pass by Maliik Love and fed it to Bobbitt for a transition layup and a 57-56 lead with 35 seconds to go.

After Morgan’s go-ahead 3, UH dribbled up and called timeout with 3.8 seconds to go.

Coming out of the timeout, the inbounder Bobbitt telegraphed his pass to Valdes and Morgan collected it and was fouled with 2.7 seconds left.

"We had a double back screen for (Stefan Jankovic), a misdirection for Negus (Webster-Chan)," UH coach Benjy Taylor said. "Jank was actually a decoy, and another screen coming up top for Aaron for a 3. They must have seen something. Game shouldn’t have come down to that though. Reese Morgan shouldn’t have gotten loose in the corner."

Senior guard Garrett Nevels missed the first game of his UH career as he recovered from surgery near his right thumb.

Freshman guard Isaac Fleming got the start in Nevels’ stead, and proceeded to miss his first six shots and finished with five points. Besides Valdes, no UH player had more than eight.

"We did miss (Nevels). His rebounding, his scoring, his leadership out there," Valdes said. "But Isaac did a good job out there as a freshman starter."

Poly forward Brian Bennett scored 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting to lead Poly. Morgan finished shooting 3-for-12 but hit the ones that counted, finishing with 17 points and three steals. He missed a potential game-winning 3 at the regulation buzzer, but hit a 3 for Poly’s first lead in OT.

"Intimacy, intensity, big plays, big shots, big enthusiasm," Cal Poly coach Joe Callero said of the game. "I feel very fortunate to be part of it."

Some UH fans booed as they dispersed from the arena.

"You want to come into the arena and you want people booing and hissing at you," Callero said. "I say hey, good battle. It sure is enjoyable to come into these arenas like this."

UH shot 32.7 percent (just off its season low) against Poly’s alternating defenses, which included an uncommon 1-3-1 zone.

"The tempo was in our favor," Taylor said. "The game was in the 60s just because we couldn’t hit shots."

"They were definitely hustling out there, going hard," forward Mike Thomas said. "Taking away looks … this team knew what we do pretty well. We’ll have to definitely make adjustments."

UH connected on just three of its first 20 shots, fell behind early and trailed by seven at the break.

UH drew within 38-34 on a pull-up 3 by Valdes with 12:49 to play. Jankovic put in a short bank shot to keep his team within four. Mike Thomas stuck a reversal putback of his own missed dunk to make it 41-38 with 10 minutes to play.

A Jankovic block led to a Valdes 3-pointer. Then Valdes stole it at mid court and dunked it for a 43-42 lead with 7:30 left, UH’s first advantage since the first minute of the game.

UH capped an 18-4 run with a layup by Quincy Smith for a 47-42 lead.

Poly came back with Bennett’s first two free throws — he was 0-for-6 at the line prior to that — and two more at the line plus a 3-pointer by Morgan to reclaim the lead, 49-47.

Valdes hit a free throw and Webster-Chan put UH ahead 51-49 with a 3.

Bennett scored inside and fouled out Thomas in the process with 1:16 left, but missed the and-1 and the game remained tied at 51.

UH milked clock going for the game’s last shot, but Bobbitt turned it over out of bounds.