All that talk of poor second halves was heard loud and clear by the Hawaii basketball team, and just in time for Big West play.

UH concluded its nonconference schedule by pulling away from Howard after halftime, pushing back on a season-long trend for an 84-59 victory on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH (9-4) doubled up Howard 46-23 over the final 20 minutes after it led by just two after the first 20. It was only the fourth time in 2017-18, and the first instance in six games, the Rainbow Warriors outperformed their opponent in second-period points.

“It felt great. And in this fashion,” senior co-captain Mike Thomas said. “We haven’t been doing well closing games and playing the second half. To come out with energy and passion and fire was really big for us, and to see the bench going out there doing things too.”

Forward Jack Purchase came off the pine for a long-awaited breakout game, scoring a season-high 22 points with six 3-pointers, and four other ’Bows scored in double figures.

As a team, UH set season highs in field-goal percentage (.549), 3-pointers made (13) and assists (22) in front of the crowd of 3,119.

The trey total was remarkable in that it came just a game after a season-worst 2-for-11 performance in a 14-point loss to Princeton in the Diamond Head Classic fifth-place game on Monday.

So good was UH’s execution, its continued free-throw struggles (15-for-27, 55.6 percent) never factored into the outcome as it improved to 16-0 all-time against MEAC schools.

The Rainbow Warriors now prepare to head out to Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge to begin Big West play.

“A step in the right direction with the way we played a second half,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “Habits take a long time to build, good habits. We can’t say we’ve answered the second-half woes with one game, but it’s a start.”

UH was in a dogfight for 20 minutes; it would’ve trailed at half were it not for Purchase’s buzzer-beating 3 off an inbounds pass with 2.8 seconds left in the period.

Thomas said Ganot’s halftime speech to the team “woke us up.”

“Coach kind of lit into us,” Thomas said. “The game shouldn’t have been that close, to be honest.”

A 17-0 run, featuring seven points by Sheriff Drammeh and two Purchase 3-pointers, turned a one-point game into an 18-point runaway. Purchase hadn’t hit more than three from 3 this season.

“I was trusting my shot,” said Purchase, who recently put in some shooting reps with his father, Nigel, visiting from Australia during the DHC. “How I shoot, I’ve shot like that my whole life. I’ve just gotta back myself … and shoot with confidence. That’s all it was today.”

Drammeh finished with 17 points, while Thomas and Brocke Stepteau scored 13 and Gibson Johnson 11. Drew Buggs tied his personal best with six assists in playing alongside Stepteau as the starting backcourt for the first time this season; Leland Green shifted to the bench.

The change in fortunes between halves was embodied in Howard freshman guard R.J. Cole, who had an electric first period — 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting — but was locked down in the second half, missing all six of his shots after the break to finish with 22.

Cole, who scored 42 in Howard’s win over UNC-Wilmington last Friday, was having his way with jumpers off the dribble against the ’Bows in rallying his team from an early 10-point deficit. But the 5-foot-9 Stepteau took away the 6-foot-1 Cole’s airspace after the break.

“Brocke shut him down,” Purchase said. “We put Brocke on him and he was on him the whole time. He was great on defense. We helped him as much as we (bigs) could, but he did a great job on him.”

Howard’s other primary scorer, Charles Williams, was limited to 10 points and five turnovers after picking up two quick fouls.

Howard (3-13) dropped to 0-12 in true road games this season. Coach Kevin Nickelberry’s frustration boiled over into a technical foul with 6:51 left and his team down by 17. Nickelberry was unavailable for comment afterward.

Ganot emptied the bench with a couple minutes left, as UH comfortably beat the prestigious school from Washington, D.C., for the second time in three seasons.