It is back to the drawing board once again.

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The University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team began Big West Conference play by falling to the Cal State Fullerton Titans at the Stan Sheriff Center, 63-61, in overtime on Saturday.

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Bernardo da Silva led UH with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. He was followed by Justin McKoy's 12 points and eight rebounds.

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Dominic Brewton led the Titans with 17 points on 7-for-15 shooting. He was followed by Vincent Lee's 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting.

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UH and Fullerton got out to an even start in the first half. They were neck and neck until Fullerton spurted ahead with a 7-0 run with 9:35 remaining.

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Fullerton continued to outhustle Hawaiʻi and pulled their lead to as many as nine. Grayson Carper accounted for all three of Fullerton's triples while UH was held to just 1-for-10 shooting from 3-point range.

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"We started slow in the first half and we knew we had to have a better second half," Da Silva said.

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Noel Coleman had nine points, and he managed to get to 1,000 points as a Rainbow Warrior off a layup with 6:18 remaining.

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Fortunately, UH got some momentum going into the second half when Tom Beattie got a steal and slam dunk to end the first half. Fullerton was still up, 27-21.

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UH came out firing in the second half to the tune of a 10-2 run and took the lead. That started with back-to-back McKoy triples. In a matter of over three minutes, UH took the lead off a da Silva layup.

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Unfortunately, UH was unable to pull a lead of more than three points due to questionable fouls. The entire game saw a total of 16 ties and 13 lead changes. It went down to the wire.

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Fullerton's Brewton made a layup with 42 seconds left to tie things at 56. He then missed a jump shot with under two seconds left, and UH had one last chance. JoVon McClanahan buried a triple from near mid-court, but the referees did not honor the basket, and overtime was needed to settle things.

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"We just got to figure out how we played the second half for 40 minutes instead of 20," Coleman said.

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McKoy started the overtime period with two made free throws, but Fullerton had an answer.

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Donovan Oday made three of the next four free throws while 17 total turnovers plagued the 'Bows to Fullerton's 10.

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With 2:27 remaining, Tom Beattie made a layup to give UH a 60-59 lead, but back-to-back Fullerton buckets from Brewton and John Mikey Square put the Titans back in front, 63-60.

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A McClanahan foul with 17 seconds left during a 3-point shot gave UH another chance to tie things up, but McClanahan made only one of the three free throws. After Brewton missed two free throws, McKoy put up an off-balance triple, but it was not good enough, and Fullerton held on to upset UH for the fifth consecutive time.

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Cal State Fullerton improves to 1-1 in Big West Conference play while UH drops to 0-1 in conference. UH will then hit the road for two games against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024 at 5 p.m. HST, and at Cal State Northridge on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 at 3 p.m. HST. You can listen to both games on ESPN Honolulu.