One down, four to go!

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The University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team did not let that 77-71 loss at Santa Barbara impede their progress and took down Long Beach State, 73-65, on Anime Night at the Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday. This marks UH's sixth win in the last eight games.

Justin McKoy led UH and all players with a career-high 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting and 4-for-7 from 3-point range. Noel Coleman also tallied 18 on 5-for-9 shooting and 3-for-6 from 3-point range.

A.J. George led a short-handed LBSU squad with 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting. He was followed by Aboubacar Traore's 15 points, and Lassina Traore's double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds, which led all players.

McKoy scored seven of UH's first nine points of the first half, which started with a triple. At halftime, he led all scorers with 15.

"He's putting it all together," Hawaiʻi Head Coach Eran Ganot said of McKoy. "He's just checked the boxes, and now he's playing as well as he's played in his career."

UH would ultimately seize control after they trailed for just 36 seconds. They shot 47% overall in the first half and made six triples to LBSU's zero.

LBSU trailed almost all game long, as guard Marcus Tsohonis did not suit up due to an injury.

UH would never trail again after a Ryan Rapp fast break layup with 17:06 remaining in the first half and led by as much as nine before taking a 40-33 lead into halftime.

UH went 6-for-17 from 3-point range with McKoy, Coleman, Juan Munoz and Akira Jacobs all hitting at least one triple. Jacobs made it 11 times in the last 12 games that he hit at least one triple.

"We've been doing a great job growing as a team," Coleman said.

On another good note, senior point guard JoVon McClanahan returned for the first time in four games from his shoulder injury. He played only four minutes and logged an assist.

It was a great first half for the 'Bows, as they committed just three turnovers to The Beach's five.

UH was far from done going into the second half. Just like the first half, McKoy got things started with a triple less than 20 seconds in.

Despite numerous fouls called on UH off and on, LBSU never threatened them while UH ballooned their lead to 15.

LBSU made a late push and cut the gap down to eight with over a minute to go, but Coleman shut them down with a drive-in layup with 46 seconds left, and made four additional free throws. As a last hurrah, Messiah Thompson made one last field goal with 10 seconds remaining for the final arithmetic.

LBSU's 3-point shooting was woeful, as they went 0-for-10 overall. They were 0-for-6 in the first half, and 0-for-4 in the second half. The loss for LBSU halted a five-game win streak simultaneously.

"That helped us significantly," Ganot said of LBSU's tripleless game. "They've been shooting well, too."

UH would outrebound LBSU, 34-29, and hit 10 triples to LBSU's zero.

UH now improves to 16-12 overall and 8-8 in the Big West. They will now hit the road for two games at UC Davis on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 4 p.m. HST, and at UC Riverside on Saturday, Mar. 2 at 3 p.m. HST. Both games can be heard on ESPN Honolulu.