HONOLULU —  The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team put together a second-half rally but were turned back by UC Irvine, 60-50, Thursday night at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Warriors dropped to 9-7 overall and 1-3 in the Big West.
 
The loss was UH's fifth the last six games and its fourth straight home loss, its longest such streak since 2010. Meanwhile, UC Irvine (12-5, 5-0) won its fifth straight game to maintain its hold on first in the Big West. 
 
UH forward Bernardo da Silva posted his fifth double-double of the season with 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field and a career-high 14 rebounds. 
 
Guard Juan Munoz provided a spark off the bench with nine points and three assists. Guard Ryan Rapp hit two 3-pointers in the second half to help fuel UH's comeback attempt and finished with a season-high eight points. Forward Justin McKoy added eight points and seven rebounds.
 
The first 10 minutes of the game was back-and-forth with 10 lead changes and three ties. But the Rainbow Warriors went scoreless for five minutes opening the door for UC Irvine to take control.  The Anteaters reeled off a 20-3 run and eventually took a 33-20 lead at the break. 
 
UH, which fell behind by as many as 15 points in the first half, were down, 38-24, early in the second half. But the 'Bows rallied with Rapp's 3-pointers and cut the deficit to 48-45 on Munoz's rainbow three with nine minutes left to send the SSC crowd into a frenzy. The Warriors though went cold the rest of the way, UH was to held to one field goal over the next eight minutes while UC Irvine pulled away. UH shot 36 percent from the floor, 3-of-17 on three pointers and 5-of-13 from the line to finish with a season-low point total. 
 
Pierre Crockrell II lead UC Irvine with 16 points, and Justin Hohn and Carter Welling finished with 12 each.
 
The Rainbow Warriors look to get back in the win column when they host UC Riverside Saturday, Jan. 13. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. HT at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.