The Hawaii men’s basketball team is Big West tournament bound, and the Rainbow Warriors might even get a little rest in the process.

Noel Coleman matched his career high of 31 points, including a critical 3-pointer in overtime, as UH survived, 76-73, against UC Riverside at SRC Arena on Saturday night to clinch a spot in the eight-team field in Henderson, Nevada, in two weeks.

With two home games to play, UH (17-13, 9-9 Big West) will receive a top-four seed and first-round bye at the Dollar Loan Center if it can defeat Cal State Northridge and Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday and Saturday.

Losses by CSUN (9-10) and UC Santa Barbara (8-10) were contributing factors to UH’s standing on a day that broke decidedly in its favor.

UH and UCR (13-17, 8-10) entered Saturday with identical league records, and both squandered prime opportunities to win down the stretch of both regulation and the extra five-minute period.

After a miss on guard Barrington Hargress’ potential game-winning runner against JoVon McClanahan in the final 10 seconds of OT, UH wing Ryan Rapp came down with the rebound in traffic. UCR was forced to take a foul and Rapp, who had not hit a shot from the field or attempted a shot at the line, went 2-for-2 for his only points with 5.9 seconds left.

Hargress sped upcourt on the Highlanders’ last-ditch shot, but his pull-up 3 at the horn carried too much momentum and caromed off the backboard, and UH swept UCR for the first time since 2014.

“I’ve been on both sides of it. It’s a humbling game, but I think you gotta enjoy it,” UH coach Eran Ganot told Spectrum News in a postgame phone interview. “We made some things interesting. Both teams made some big plays, both teams had plays they’d like to have back.

“But we got a big stop, Ryan got a big rebound and made big free throws. Not often you have games where you have some poor-play decisions and also some huge plays as well. I know our guys are enjoying it and they understand what’s at stake and getting back to work.”

UH was coming off a 12-point loss at UC Davis on Thursday in which it allowed two players to explode for 30 points.

This time, it was UH’s turn for one of its players to have a big night.

Coleman entered the day needing 16 points to surpass Vander Joaquim (1,205 points) for 10^th on the all-time program scoring list. The senior guard nearly got it by halftime, with several buckets coming in a 16-2 run to close the first half for a six-point lead at intermission.

The Belgian kept pouring it on down the stretch as he shot 13-for-25 from the field (5-for-10 on 3-pointers) and posted the most points by a UH player this season – doing it without the benefit of a single free-throw attempt.

His 31 points matched his output against Vanderbilt in the 2021 Diamond Head Classic first round. He hadn’t before taken more than 19 shots in his four-year UH career.

“Noel was a monster. He was absolutely incredible,” Ganot said. “He was as aggressive as I think I’ve seen him. He set the tone.”

Center Bernardo da Silva added 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Forwad Justin McKoy had 10 points and nine rebounds, point guard Juan Munoz scored eight before giving way to McClanahan late as an injury precaution, and wing Tom Beattie had all of UH’s nine bench points.

Ganot credited his group for limiting the 3-point damage (5-for-18) by the team that takes the most in the conference.

Riverside played without leading scorer Isaiah Moses (12.4 points per game) for undisclosed reasons, a development that surprised UH when starting lineups were announced. It was the third time in Big West play, including the second straight Saturday, that UH faced an opponent with its leading scorer scratched.

Nate Pickens scored a team-high 16 for UCR coach Mike Magpayo and Hargress added 15, albeit on 5-for-15 shooting.

It was 60-all with two minutes left in regulation.

Hargress drew a foul on McClanahan in the paint and hit two foul shots for a 62-60 lead with 1:22 left. Coleman hit a shot high off the window to tie it up with 1:05 remaining.

Da Silva came up with a block of Hargress and Coleman hit a right-wing 3 in transition for a three-point advantage with 40.3 seconds left.

Pickens drove and was fouled by Coleman. He hit the first, missed the second and grabbed the rebound when it was tipped back to him at the free-throw line. An off-balance Kyle Owens took a pass from Hargress and the forward put one off the window to tie it at 65 with 12.5 seconds left.

McClanahan dribbled to the right wing near Coleman, but instead of handing it off, drove to the baseline and took an off balance shot that bounced off the top of the backboard and out with 1.4 seconds left.

Ganot acknowledged it was not the shot he wanted.

“They pushed us to the side during that key stretch and we kind of guarded ourselves for where the ball was,” Ganot said. “We wanted to play off of Noel a little bit and play a little bit more in the middle third of the floor. … We’d had success on running off a handoff into the paint where he can make some decisions. They pressured us and we were way too close to the sideline where (there’s no options).”

Hargress heaved it behind halfcourt to Owens, who spun and shot it off the backboard without drawing iron.

McKoy and Coleman helped stake UH to a four-point lead with baskets early in overtime.

After the Highlanders turned it over on a backdoor cut, Coleman stepped back for a 3 and staked his team to a six-point lead while tying his career high. But Owens came back with a three-point play to cut it to 74-71 with 44.5 seconds left.

Da Silva was blocked from behind in transition and Hargress put in a hanging shot to cut it to one with 22.8 seconds left.

Ganot called timeout with 21 seconds left. UH inbounded to Coleman in front of the UCR bench and he was unable to escape a double team as the Highlanders forced a jump ball turnover with 16.8 seconds left.

Hargress got it at the top of the key, dribbled against McClanahan and missed a runner off the back iron and UH escaped with the road split.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.