HONOLULU – The Hawai'i men's basketball team dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season with an 86-75 setback to Cal Poly. With the rare home loss, the Rainbow Warriors (18-7, 10-5) fell into a tie for second place in the Big West standings with CSUN, a game behind first-place UC Irvine. 

Coming off a tough road loss at CSUN, UH looked to get right at home where they were 14-1 this season and had won 10 straight. But Cal Poly (12-16, 8-8) had other plans, winning its third straight game, all of them against the top three teams in the league standings. 

The Mustangs got off to a rapid start and held off every comeback attempt by the Rainbow Warriors who dropped just their second home game this year and first since a November 20 loss to Arizona State. It also marked UH's first home loss to Cal Poly in 11 years. 

Hamad Mousa, the league's top scorer, led four Mustangs in double-digits with a game-high 24 points. Dre Bullock scored 22 points and added nine rebounds for the Rainbow Warriors. Isaac Johnson scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half and went a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.
 
The Mustangs bolted out to a 15-2 lead with a 6-for-8 start from the field. After going down by 15, the 'Bows battled back and hit five consecutive shots in a 14-2 run that closed the gap to a single point. Isaac Finlinson ignited the run with a driving layup and later stormed down the middle of the lane for a dunk.

Cal Poly maintained a slim lead and UH went without a field goal for the final 8:10 of the half while the Mustangs closed with a 9-2 run to take a 44-35 lead into the break. UH's shot just 34.6% in the first half.

UH rallied in the second half and finally caught up with the Mustangs thanks to Bullock's personal 7-0 run. Bullock hit a 3-pointer, two free throws and a driving finish to forge the game's first tie at 52-52 at the 13:27 mark.

But Cal Poly responded with a 9-0 run of their own, punctuated by a Troy Plumtree breakaway dunk, to open up a 61-52 lead with 10 minutes left. 

Yacine Toumi provided a spark off the bench in the second half with seven points, four coming in a run that drew UH to within a bucket at 64-62 with 6:30 left. But Peter Bandelj answered with three-point play to kick start a 9-1 run as Cal Poly again broke away to forge a 10-point lead  with 4:15 remaining. The Mustangs maintained at least a nine-point lead the rest of the way to close out the night.

UH shot just 3-of-23 from three-point territory and committed 17 turnovers which the Mustangs parlayed into 22 points. The 'Bows also had just two assists on its 23 made field goals. 

The Rainbow Warriors now get set for a nationally-televised showdown with UC Santa Barbara on Saturday  at 5:00 p.m. It will be AC Carter Night as the legendary UH guard will have his jersey retired at halftime.