LIHUE » For the second straight year, Hawaii refused to fall victim to Chaminade’s neighbor-island mystique.

The Rainbow Warriors fended off the upset-minded Silverswords with a dominant interior effort for a 94-84 victory at Kauai High School’s gym, the Raiderdome, on Saturday night.

UH senior forward Christian Standhardinger led the way by tying his career high of 31 points, including 20 in the second half, on just nine shots from the field.

It was UH’s first game on the Garden Island. A packed crowd of more than 800 was on hand for the occasion and cheered both teams.

"Give all kinds of credit to the people of Kauai," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "They treated us like royalty and made us feel really at home. We had a great time.

"Another good game with Chaminade," he added. "The last one on Molokai was a barn-burner, a high-scorer (104-93 last December). This was another one. Give Chaminade a lot of credit."

UH (7-2) clawed back from an early 15-point deficit to win its fifth straight game, tying its longest streak under Arnold. The Rainbow Warriors also improved to 5-0 under Arnold in neighbor-island games, including two straight wins over the Division II team whose campus is less than a mile from UH’s on Oahu.

"There was no concern," said point guard Keith Shamburger, who had 17 points and five assists. "We weren’t really nervous … We knew what we needed to do."

Namely, cut down the turnovers (six in the second half, after 11 in the first) and pound it inside — they shot 73.9 percent after the break, to 34.5 percent before it.

Standhardinger benefited from a closely whistled game, going 16-for-22 from the free-throw line. A whopping 59 fouls were called in total.

"He gets superstar calls out here, man," Shamburger said.

Sophomore forward Isaac Fotu shot 7-for-7 from the field, with 18 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Guard Garrett Nevels shot 4-for-5 on 3s en route to 16 points. And center Davis Rozitis swatted a career-best four shots.

"Keith, Garrett and Brandon (Spearman) did an amazing job of finding us inside," Standhardinger said. "That’s why we’re a great team. Because we have so many weapons to score it."

Chaminade (4-4) fell to 0-4 against Division I opposition this season. Amid rampant foul trouble, the Silverswords struggled as the game wore on. They had less depth than UH — especially without their top scorer, Florida Gulf Coast transfer Christophe Varidel. Varidel did not make the interisland trip and missed his third straight game with knee tendinitis. Up front, 6-foot-10 forward Frankie Eteuati (who fouled out) was CU’s only player taller than 6-7.

The Silverswords put scares into D-I power-conference teams Baylor and Minnesota last month in the EA Sports Maui Invitational, and came out with similar swagger on Kauai.

After Chaminade’s red-hot shooting cooled off, UH chipped away against the ‘Swords’ zone defense and tied things up at 42 by halftime.

"I’m happy (our players) came out and they didn’t back down," Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird said. "We knew it was going to be a struggle for us to guard them on the inside and stay out of foul trouble. It ultimately hurt us down the stretch."

Forward Kiran Shastri picked up the slack with 25 points, including five 3-pointers. He hit four of his treys early in helping Chaminade build a 25-10 lead.

In the second half, forwards Standhardinger and Fotu went to work against the Silverswords’ foul-depleted front line. Meanwhile, CU shot just 2-for-11 on 3s after the break.

"They just pounded it in and we didn’t have answers for Fotu and Christian," Shastri said.

Shastri hit his fifth 3-pointer to get the ‘Swords within 84-76 with 3:30 to play. He then hit two free throws to get it to six, but that was as close as it got late.

Standhardinger re-established control for UH with a three-point play, earning his second career 30-point game in the process.

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.

Halftime — Hawaii 42, Chaminade 42. 3-points goals — Hawaii 8-22 (Nevels 4-5, Shamburger 2-6, Stanhardinger 1-2, Spearman 1-6, Enos 0-1, Smith 0-2). Chaminade 8-27 (Shastri 5-13, Harper 1-2, Bailey 1-4, Hu 1-4, Mathew 0-1, Eteuati 0-1, Kuany 0-2).  Steals — Hawaii 3 (Nevels 2, Smith). Chaminade 1 (Bailey). Blocked shots — Hawaii 9 (Rozitis 4, Fotu 3, Nevels, Stanhardinger). Chaminade 3 (Eteuati 2, Braziel). Technicals — none. Officials — Todd Apo, Ryan Wells, Mason Souza. A — 800.