It was hard to say what was more stunning: Hauns Brereton’s driving one-handed dunk or the beatdown that followed.

Brereton’s unexpected throwdown ignited a 29-3 run that carried Hawaii to a 100-73 blowout of South Carolina State, the first triple-digit output by the Rainbow Warriors in more than nine years.

UH’s defense forced 14 second-half turnovers, and the Rainbow Warriors (8-5) converted many of the SCSU giveaways into offense on Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Now the Rainbow Warriors, winners of six of their past seven games, head into a New Year’s Eve showdown with No. 19 UNLV (14-2), the team’s final game before the Western Athletic Conference season begins.

The ‘Bows shot 50.7 percent overall and scored 59 points after halftime, more than undoing a slow start that saw them down by 11 early.

With UH up by as many as 36, a rare sight ensued: The team’s bench emptied with nearly 3 minutes to play.

"Really happy with that second half, getting everybody in and playing a really exciting style of basketball," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "A lot of guys stepped up today. … Good win for the Rainbows."

Brereton’s career night got things going for the ‘Bows after the hosts got off to a sluggish start. He made his first four 3s and shot 9-for-12 overall in going for a career-high 22 off the bench.

"That’s the kid we recruited, and the kid we expected," Arnold said.

Junior forward Joston Thomas added 16 points and 10 rebounds and senior guard Zane Johnson had 14 points on 4-for-7 shooting from long range.

But it was Brereton’s early second-half dunk, which started as a drive from outside the 3-point line, that got most of the crowd of more than 4,000 up off their feet. It broke a 48-all tie, and many stayed up the rest of the way.

"Honestly, I’ve been feeling left out because Joston (Thomas) and Vander (Joaquim) been rocking the house with thunder dunks," said a grinning Brereton. "I just wanted to get to the rack."

"Boom," Thomas said of the play.

"Whoever scores it, we’re going to cheer them, pat them on the butt and say, ‘Good play.’ "

After Brereton got things going, point guard Miah Ostrowski turned turnovers into offense with seven straight points on layups and a free throw.

SCSU (4-9), of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, led 42-41 at halftime but was staggered by the barrage. It resulted in the most points the Bulldogs allowed this season.

"They go four straight layups, and bam, there’s the ballgame," SCSU coach Tim Carter said with a snap of his fingers. "Bottom line was they did a great job of converting in transition, great job of getting the ball up the floor. I don’t think they ever stopped trying to execute in the halfcourt, even when they were up by 25."

Reserve guard Pi‘i Minns scored his first career points on two technical free throws with 2:44 left.

Garrett Jefferson dropped in the last of his season-high eight — and UH’s final points — on two free throws with 1:45 to play. UH’s last triple-digit game was a 100-81 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Nov. 24, 2002.

The Bulldogs shot 50 percent in the first half, but it was all downhill from there. They were held to 28.6 percent after the break, while UH went 20-for-35 (57.1 percent).

It might have turned into a blowout sooner, but the ‘Bows made only four of their first 14 free throws and finished 20-for-39.

"Sometimes it happens; I’m glad we got it out of our system," Arnold said. "I don’t expect it to be a major issue again."

Backup guard Aaron Martin led SCSU with 17 points.

UH came out slow and the Bulldogs capitalized with a 9-2 start. They went up 19-8 when Thomas was whistled for a technical for dunking well after a dead-ball whistle.

SCSU still led 38-28 when Brereton hit a corner 3-pointer to ignite a 13-4 run to close out the first half. Johnson hit a buzzer-beating trey to make it 42-41 SCSU at the break.