The winning feeling is back.

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The University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team erased that ugly loss to UC Santa Barbara with an 83-73 win over the Cal Poly Mustangs at the Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday.

Noel Coleman led the 'Bows with 23 points on 5-for-11 shooting; he was 2-for-6 from 3-point range and 11-for-12 from the free throw line. Justin McKoy came next with 13 points and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. JoVon McClanahan and Juan Munoz rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 and 11 points respectively.

"It's a big relief," Coleman said.

Kobe Sanders led Cal Poly and all players with an astonishing 32 points and 10 rebounds on 9-for-19 shooting; Sanders was also 3-for-5 from 3-point range and 11-for-13 from the free throw line. Aiden Prukop was next with 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting, 4-for-7 from 3-point range, and made all three of his free throws.

The opening stanza began with McKoy drawing first blood under two minutes in. UH would snag eight of the first 11 points of the game on top of that.

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Cal Poly still managed to find a way to get back in the neighborhood. They uncorked a 6-0 run to take a 9-8 lead with 13:30 remaining.

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Bernardo da Silva would tie the game with a single free throw despite missing three of his next four attempts. Munoz then gave the 'Bows the lead for good with his lone triple of the game with 11:57 remaining. Da Silva ended with nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

UH would ultimately never trail again, but the winless Cal Poly squad kept things interesting. They would shoot 42% (10-for-24) overall in the first half to UH's 37% (10-for-27) and 37.5% from 3-point range (3-for-8) to remain close.

UH stayed solid and ended the first half up, 26-23, despite two missed shots from McClanahan and Coleman in the final few seconds.

"We have to click at some point," McClanahan said. "We always weather the storm in life."

It was a great first half for the 'Bows, as they committed just one turnover to Cal Poly's eight in the first 20 minutes, which was a victory in itself.

"Little steps like that is going to carry on into the next game," Coleman said. "Once that goes on to the next game, we don't have to worry about that as much. We can worry about something else."

UH started out the second half great again and scored the first nine points immediately. They remained solid and never let their lead dip under eight points.

The final four minutes and change got dicey, as Cal Poly banked several triples down the stretch to keep their chances to win their first conference game alive. Ultimately, they were too far back to pose a challenge.

UH took care of business at the free throw line making 35 of their 46 free throws, and committing only seven turnovers to total eight overall.

With the win, UH improves to 11-10 overall, and 3-6 in the Big West Conference. They are now in eighth place in the standings.

"The sunshine will come at some point," McClanahan said.

"You always have to believe the best is yet to come," Head Coach Eran Ganot added. "The belief will always be there."

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UH now travels to the continent to take on Cal State Fullerton at Titan Gym on Thursday, Feb. 1, and on Saturday, Feb. 3 against UC Irvine at the Bren Events Center. Both tipoffs are scheduled for 5 p.m. HST and can be heard on ESPN Honolulu.