The jinx has finally been broken!

Since joining the Big West in 2012, the University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team had yet to earn a season sweep over the UC Riverside Highlanders until this year. UH successfully turned UCR back on Saturday, 76-73, in overtime at the SRC Arena.

Noel Coleman led UH and all players with 31 points on 13-for-25 shooting and was 5-for-10 from 3-point range. Bernardo da Silva was next in line with 16 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Justin McKoy rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10; McKoy and da Silva had a team-high nine rebounds.

Coleman's 31 points ties his career high against Vanderbilt in the 2021 Diamond Head Classic first round.

Nate Pickens led UC Riverside with 16 points on 7-for-14 shooting. He was followed by Barrington Hargress' 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting, and Kyle Owens chipped in a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds on 5-for-9 shooting.

Both UH and UCR were evenly matched until UCR uncorked an 8-0 run by the 8:49 mark. UH went cold for a bit until a da Silva turnaround jumper ended UCR's run.

Hawaiʻi kept Riverside in sight and did not let Riverside's lead get to double-digits. Coleman and da Silva anchored UH all throughout the first half. UH was 0-for-6 from 3-point range until Coleman finally banked the first of his five triples at the 4:54 mark.

The 'Bows finally took the lead at the 1:42 mark thanks to another Coleman triple, 26-24. The 'Bows did an admirable job in the last 4:23 of the first half and kept Riverside scoreless.

UH would end the first half on a 16-2 run and lead 30-24 going into halftime. They committed just four turnovers to UCR's three.

Juan Munoz began the second half with his first triple of the contest less than a minute in. Munoz would finish with eight critical points, which included two triples.

A Tom Beattie layup halted a scoring drought of over three minutes for UH after Munoz's triple. The 'Bows would pull out their lead to 10 points, 39-29, with 15:21 remaining.

Riverside was not going to go down quietly though. They uncorked a 9-2 run to move within one possession of the lead.

Coleman would have none of it and banked his third triple to halt Riverside's run. Thanks to him, da Silva, and Beattie, UH was able to hold on to the lead until the closing stages.

Riverside finally tied things up at 60 off a Hargress layup with two minutes left. Two additional free throws from Hargress finally put Riverside back in front, 62-60, but it was not for long.

Coleman put UH back into a dead-even tie with another layup with 1:08 remaining. He hit another triple 31 seconds later to put UH back in the lead, 65-62.

Owens responded to Coleman's triple with a layup after Pickens missed the back end of a 1-and-1. Just like that, it was tied at 65 with 12 seconds remaining.

An off-balance JoVon McClanahan jumper with a few seconds left did not drop through, and overtime was needed to settle things once and for all.

UCR's Pickens and UH's McKoy traded layups in the first minute of the overtime period. McKoy then gave UH the lead for good, 69-67, via two free throws off an Owens foul. 

With 54 seconds left, Coleman buried his fifth and final triple to give UH a six-point lead, 74-68.

Despite back-to-back field goals from Owens and Hargress to pull within one, 74-73, Ryan Rapp made two additional free throws off a Hargress foul with five seconds left for the final arithmetic.

With this win, UH has now swept all their Big West opponents all-time going back to year one in 2012. This is also their seventh win in their last 10 games.

Riverside drops to 8-10 in the Big West standings and 13-17 overall. They are now tied for seventh place with UC Santa Barbara.

UH improves to 17-13 overall and evens their conference record once again at 9-9. They are now up to fifth place in the Big West standings after Northridge fell to UC San Diego, 79-69, and UC Santa Barbara fell to Cal State Fullerton, 79-70, earlier this week.

UH will return to the islands for their final two home games against Northridge on Wednesday, Mar. 6, and Saturday, Mar. 9 against CSU Bakersfield at the Stan Sheriff Center. Tipoff for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m. HST; you can listen to both games on the radio at ESPN Honolulu, or watch on Spectrum Sports.