Calling it unexpected was putting it mildly.

Saturday night’s offensive explosion at the Stan Sheriff Center was a startling — and welcome — change for the Hawaii basketball team.

UH had struggled to score all season, averaging just 64 points per game. The only time the Rainbow Warriors topped 80 was against Division II Hawaii Hilo on Nov. 22. They’d been held below 70 in nine of the past 10 games.

The book on the NCAA-depleted ’Bows was that they just didn’t have the firepower to go bucket-for-bucket with offensive-minded opponents. Then Long Beach State entered the building.

Hawaii couldn’t miss against the program it last saw in the 2016 Big West tournament championship game. The ’Bows broke out in a big way, nearly doubling their scoring average (and tying the seventh-most ever put up by the program) in a wild 114-107 overtime win.

“The defensive end — we’ll talk about that tomorrow,” a grinning Eran Ganot said afterward. “Enjoy these. We were in such a lull offensively. We had a great week of practice; guys were making shots. Usually you start to feel that going into a game. It doesn’t always happen, but they were rewarded for that.”

There’s little time to celebrate for UH (7-9, 1-2 Big West). Cal State Northridge (7-10, 3-1) is up next on Wednesday.

UH came into Saturday shooting 38.9 percent from the field, including two games in the mid-30s to start the BWC. It had no games of 50-plus percent shooting. But transition-oriented LBSU (6-14, 1-3) was the remedy for the ’Bows’ woes; they topped 60 (37-for-61, 60.7 percent).

The program’s previous scoring high in a conference game was 104 vs. UTEP on Feb. 17, 1994, and the 221 combined points were second only to the 223 of a 116-107 win over Cal State Los Angeles on Feb.6, 1959. UH’s 114 equaled the Sheriff scoring record vs. Hilo on Nov. 21, 2013.

It required four UH players to have career-best nights. Noah Allen, Leland Green and Jack Purchase each submitted 25; Zigmars Raimo was perfect from the field for 11 points; and point guard Brocke Stepteau added 14. LBSU, which was notably without preseason all-conference forward Gabe Levin (knee), had six players in double figures.

“Long Beach was picked to win the conference … so we wanted to come out and show we can play in this conference and put up a fight,” said Purchase, who hit a career-high seven 3s.

The 49ers led for 38 minutes of regulation. UH had to rally from 13 points down with 12:23 left, and by two points with 3.1 seconds remaining, when LBSU’s Justin Bibbins hit two free throws.

Then came the highlight still making the rounds on social media.

Ganot usually prefers running off an opponent’s make in the final 10 seconds of a one-possession game, but not this time. After a timeout, UH spaced the court with shooters in the corners.

Cue missing man Allen, who came off a screen near midcourt, caught a strike from Gibson Johnson and barreled to the rim for a finger-roll layup to just beat the horn, tying it at 91.

“He made a statement,” Ganot said. “That’s a special moment that will help our team moving forward.”

Just a game ago, the senior’s playing time had dwindled to eight minutes in a 28-point loss at UC Irvine. He’d missed 18 consecutive field goals, but he snapped that with his first shot off the bench, a three-point play, setting the tone for a resurgent night.

“Mentally, that’s always been my thing, the limitations I put on myself,” Allen said. “It’s something I haven’t learned yet, and I have to be better at it. Every day I’m trying to work at it. My coaching staff and my teammates kept pushing me and stayed confident in me.”

Purchase said: “Everyone in the locker room was so happy for him.”

Green shot 8-for-14 for his first 20-point game. The freshman saved his best for overtime, when he had two drives for three-point plays. The first fouled out Bibbins right off the OT tip, hamstringing the Beach’s efforts; UH led the whole extra period.

“He’s found a groove,” Ganot said.

Raimo provided an answer for LBSU’s physical front line. He played 28 minutes in helping spell Johnson, who had a shoulder issue.

Perhaps the most telling stat of all: Raimo was 5-for-27 from the field going into the game. He was 5-for-5 for the night.