Hawaii grabbed control of the steering wheel. Now the Rainbow Warriors just have to keep their eyes on the road.

Fresh off a momentous defeat of lofty league opponent UC Irvine to settle possession of first place, UH hosts a Big West cellar dweller in Cal State Fullerton tonight at the Stan Sheriff Center.

If UH (19-3, 8-1 BWC) is to claim its first conference regular-season title since 2002, it can ill afford a slip-up here with another meeting with UCI looming in Irvine, Calif., next week.

“It’s big,” wing Aaron Valdes said of the team’s third-to-last home game. “Fullerton’s a good team; they almost had us at their place. We got what we wanted, that No. 1 seed right now, so we just have to prove to the rest of the conference that we’re still No. 1, that it wasn’t a fluke.”

A more convincing win over Fullerton (9-14, 2-8) than the 86-79 overtime affair at Titan Gym on Jan. 16 would help. The Rainbow Warriors staged an improbable rally from four points down with 15 seconds left, thanks to some late plays by forward Stefan Jankovic.

“The league’s very good. The game’s humbling,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “We played this team earlier and we were very fortunate. We were down four with what, 15, 20 seconds left? I was pleased with how we handled the finish of the game in terms of giving us a chance, but we have to make some of those shots as well.”

For Titans coach Dedrique Taylor, that game was a perfect example of his perimeter-oriented team’s chronic inability to close. UH played catch-up most of the way, then dominated the extra period.

“It’s just a shame that we don’t capitalize on that type of performance in our home building against a team like Hawaii,” Taylor said.

On Thursday, UH sizzled with a program-record-tying 14 3-pointers in a 74-52 rout of the Anteaters, turning a hyped matchup into a laugher.

Taylor and the Titans were already in Honolulu coming off a 75-67 loss Wednesday to CSUN at the Matadome, another game in which CSF held a significant second-half lead.

The third-year Titans coach was yet again struck by the Rainbows’ firepower and unselfish play.

“Well, I think the energy in the building really, really fueled Hawaii and their energy and effort on the floor,” Taylor said. “Obviously they shot the ball extremely well. … That immediately jumps out. When a team shoots the ball that way, they have an unbelievable amount of confidence all of a sudden.”

UH is 5-0 against Fullerton since joining the Big West. The Titans are the only opponent yet to notch a league win against the Rainbows.

To make it 6-0, UH will probably have to do it again without guard Isaac Fleming, who is close to fully recovered from a right ankle sprain but did not practice Friday.

“You’re starting to somewhat get used to this, because now you’re talking well over a month we haven’t been (whole),” Ganot said. “Jan. 6 (first Big West game against Cal Poly) was the last whole Hawaii Rainbow Warrior basketball team.

“Here we are playing on Feb. 13, as Isaac works his way back. Even when Isaac comes back, it’s going to take us a little time to get everyone where they were. But in the meantime, what I’m very proud of is the guys controlling what they can control.”

With experienced guards Tre’ Coggins and Malcolm Brooks hobbled by ankle injuries, true freshman Khalil Ahmad has been the Titans’ go-to player in Big West play. In CSF’s 10 league games, Ahmad has averaged a team-high 18.3 points. In six of the last eight contests, he was the Titans’ scoring leader.

Ahmad had 19 against the Rainbows in Fullerton, while Brooks sat. Brooks (12.1 ppg) and Coggins (16.5) have been in and out of the lineup, but are expected to be in action today.

Since starting the season 6-1, CSF is 3-13, and has suffered some roster attrition with last year’s second-leading scorer Lanerryl Johnson leaving the team.

“The bottom fell out,” Taylor said. “For one thing or another, like I said, it’s been a number of different types of adversity but adverse situations nonetheless.”

Jankovic scored a season-low four points against UCI but still leads UH at 14.8 ppg, followed by Valdes at 14.4.

UH has a chance at its third straight 20-win season, something that’s never happened in the all-college era of opponents. The only time it happened at all was from 1947 to 1950, mostly against a hodgepodge collection of local club teams.

The program hasn’t finished better than fourth place in conference play since 2001-02, the last time they won the regular season outright.