For the 30,568 football fans at Aloha Stadium Saturday night, they left the building feeling a little strange.

Granted, the University of Hawaii bounced back from a disappointing Western Athletic Conference loss to secure a 45-34 league win over New Mexico State, but it was far from satisfying.

The Aggies hung around deep into the game, never quite giving up, despite falling behind by 19 points on several occasions in the second half. They dropped to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in WAC play, but were buoyed by the gutsy performance of senior quarterback Matt Christian.

He completed 18 of 34 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for another and spent the early part of the second half on the sidelines with his left arm in a sling.

But when his backup couldn’t generate any offense for the early part of the third quarter, and then injured his foot, Aggies head coach DeWayne Walker was forced to put him back in to try to counter UH senior quarterback Bryant Moniz. Moniz didn’t have a stellar evening, but he completed 24 of 39 passes for 224 yards and two scores.

Not exactly an eye-opening performance for the former Leilehua standout, but he did enough, including scoring twice on running plays to lift Hawaii’s record to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in league play entering this Saturday’s road game against Idaho.

UH committed only two penalties and had just one turnover late in the game, but the Warriors were also fortunate to score on a blocked punt and on a long touchdown that should have been a New Mexico State interception.

“It’s good to get a win,” UH head coach Greg McMackin said. “We have a lot of things we need to get better at on all sides of the football. I think there are some guys who really played well, but we need to get better as a football team. I just never felt like we finished. We talked about that at halftime.”

After last week’s second embarrassing road loss of the season, Hawaii was in need of another big WAC win. And much like the Warriors did in their league-opening victory at Louisiana Tech several weeks ago, they got off to a fast start en route to a 27-14 halftime lead.

It took awhile for Hawaii to add to its advantage in the third quarter, but the Warriors finally did on a 7-play, 56-yard drive that ended on an 18-yard touchdown run by Joey Iosefa. The PAT try failed, the second one missed in the game, another area of concern.

New Mexico State needed only 57 seconds to cut Hawaii’s margin back to 13 on a 46-yard touchdown scamper by tailback Kenny Turner. The try for 2 failed as Hawaii led 33-20 with 2:33 left in the third. Turner rushed for 119 yards on 17 carries to bedevil the UH defense for most of the night.

Hawaii built the advantage back to 19 on a 1-yard run by Iosefa, his second touchdown of the game as he finished with 90 yards on 13 carries. It ended a five-play, 52-yard drive as the try for 2 failed.

The big play was a 40-yard completion to freshman Trevor Davis that set up the Iosefa plunge as Hawaii led 39-20 with 11:32 left in the game. But as the Aggies did all night, they came right back with a nice scoring drive of their own that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Christian to cut the margin to 39-26 with 9:10 left in the game. The try for 2 failed again.

Hawaii built the margin back to 19 on the ensuing offensive series, going 69 yards on five plays, four of them running, including a 19-yard scoring scamper by Moniz. The try for 2 failed as Hawaii led by 19 with 6:59 left.

New Mexico State added a late touchdown on a fourth-down pass from Christian to Jonte Green from 9 yards out. The 2-point conversion was good as the Aggies cut it to 11 with less than 2 minutes remaining. They tried an onside kick, but Hawaii recovered it at the Aggies 43 to secure the win.

After going three and out on its opening series of the game, Hawaii went 69 yards on eight plays to take a touchdown advantage on a 24-yard scoring pass from Moniz to slotback Justin Clapp. Kelton Chun added the PAT to give Hawaii a 7-0 lead with 4:30 left in the opening quarter.

Hawaii quickly added another touchdown on a blocked punt by John Hardy-Tuliau that was scooped up and returned 13 yards for a touchdown by Kamalani Alo. Chun added his second PAT as Hawaii led 14-0 with 1:55 left in the first.

But New Mexico State answered quickly on the ensuing series, going 79 yards on only four plays to cut the UH advantage in half. The final play was an apparent reverse that turned into a 47-yard touchdown pass from wideout Todd Lee to a wide open Austin Franklin as UH cornerback Tank Hopkins bit on the play. Tyler Stampler added the PAT to make it 14-7 UH with 36 seconds left in the first quarter.

Hawaii got into scoring position on its ensuing series, but missed a 41-yard field goal wide right by Tyler Hadden. New Mexico State moved to the Hawaii 33 on its next series, but failed to convert on a fourth and short on an option play.

The Warriors extended the lead to 21-7 on a strange 26-yard touchdown pass from Moniz to Allen Sampson. New Mexico State safety Donaye Coleman appeared to have the pass picked, but it bounced off his hands and into Sampson’s, who cradled the catch in the end zone. Chun added his third PAT to make it 21-7 Hawaii with 2:55 left in the half.

The Aggies got right back in it with a crisp six-play, 64-yard scoring drive that culminated with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Christian to Green, who beat UH cornerback Mike Edwards on the play as Stampler added the PAT.

But Hawaii still had a little left in its tank, taking the ball and going 61 yards on only four plays to extend the lead to 27-14 as Chun missed the PAT. Moniz took it in from 17 yards out on a designed quarterback draw for the score.