Once Hawaii caught UC Riverside’s scent, the hunt was merciless.

The Rainbow Warriors absolved frustration of last week’s 0-2 mainland trip by feasting on the hapless Highlanders, 100-69, for UH’s first Big West Conference win of the season.

The ‘Bows (12-5, 1-2 BWC) turned Saturday night’s rout at the Stan Sheriff Center into a laugher by halftime up 26 with a 56-point first half, both season highs.

It was more of the same in the second half as UH led by 40 before calling off the dogs.

"Every time you see weakness from the opposite team, of course it helps you," said UH senior forward Christian Standhardinger, who had 27 points and 11 rebounds. "That even gives you more fire and you want to go even more after them. It’s like if you’re a predator and you see a wounded deer or something like that, you even go harder after it.

"Sometimes you’re on the other end. In Cal Poly (a 77-65 loss), I bet some of us had bad body language. And you know what, our goal is to be every game the predator instead of the wounded deer."

Fellow senior Brandon Spearman, sitting next to Standhardinger at the interview table, cocked his head at his teammate’s remarks.

"Ooh. That was deep, man," Spearman said.

A crowd of about 6,250 kicked back as UH’s reserves polished off the last six minutes, allowing the Rainbows’ core extra rest heading into two more road games at UC Davis and UC Irvine on Thursday and Saturday. It caps a challenging opening stretch of league play in which UH was assigned four of five on the mainland.

The backups got so much court time, seldom-used big men Mike Thomas and Stefan Jovanovic fouled out.

The margin grew to 40 on an up-and-under layup by Quincy Smith with 8:40 to go.

Twelfth man Michael Harper stuck a fadeaway jumper in the final minute as the remnants of the early departing crowd roared. It gave UH its second 100-point performance of the season.

The reprieve was more than welcome. UH focused its energy entirely on the Highlanders during the single-game week.

"It was fun to have a team out there that was really in tune with what we were trying to do," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "Long week for us. You go and drop a couple on the road, and you don’t feel good about yourself. This team wanted to get back on the floor and prove that they’re better than we played on the road."

Standhardinger notched his third double-double in four games and went 11-for-11 at the line, making him 20-for-21 at the stripe in the last two games. Spearman went for 18 points and seven rebounds.

Spearman’s signature moment came early during one of many defensive breakdowns by the Highlanders. He pump-faked, hesitated, and when no one came out to challenge him, drilled the 3-pointer for a 15-1 lead.

When it found net, he went palms up in a shrug to the crowd.

"We definitely had to assert ourselves," Spearman said.

The team’s other tri-captain, fifth-year senior center Davis Rozitis, missed the game for academic reasons.

"He’s got some things he’s finishing up," Arnold said, adding "we’ll see" when asked if he would make the upcoming road trip.

Junior point guard Keith Shamburger returned to form coming off a shooting slump in the last three games and a death in the family. He had eight points, six assists and no turnovers.

Sophomore forward Isaac Fotu chipped in 16 points with six boards, and junior guard Garrett Nevels scored all of his 12 points in the first half.

Little went right for the Highlanders (6-12, 1-3), the team projected to finish last in the Big West. Their top scorer, forward Taylor Johns, fouled out with four points and three rebounds with 9:12 left. His woeful night included a blown wide-open two-hand dunk, just two nights after he threw down an impressive reverse alley-oop in Riverside’s 81-69 win at UC Davis.

"We try to take out the head of their snake," Arnold said. "He’s been playing really, really well. … Give Christian credit on both ends of the floor. The game plan was to go at him and get him in foul trouble."

BIG WEST MEN

Saturday
Hawaii 100, UC Riverside 69
UC Davis 69, CS Fullerton 61
Long Beach State 63, Cal Poly 62
UC Santa Barbara 79, CS Northridge 69

HAWAII 100, UC RIVERSIDE 69

HIGHLANDERS (6-12, 1-3 BWC)

RAINBOW WARRIORS (12-5, 1-2 BWC)

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.

Halftime — Hawaii 56, UC Riverside 30. 3-points goals — UC Riverside 3-17 (Quick 2-5, Finley 1-3, Gruninger 0-1, Jones 0-1, Thornton 0-2, Harriel 0-2, Gruber 0-3). Hawaii 7-20 (Shamburger 2-4, Nevels 2-5, Spearman 2-7, Valdes 1-1, Standhardinger 0-1, Enos 0-1, Thomas 0-1). Steals — UC Riverside 9 (Gruninger 3, Johns 3, Devenny, Harriel, Patton). Hawaii 8 (Standhardinger 3. Shamburger, Spearman, Jawato, Smith, Valdes). Blocked shots — UC Riverside 2 (Johns, Devenny). Hawaii 3 (Nevels, Spearman, Thomas). Officials — Tony Padilla, Michael Eggens, Jeff Ketchu. Attendance — Not reported