SANTA BARBARA, Calif. » Christian Standhardinger showed how Hawaii can win games on the road.

Just play as hard as you can.

The junior forward was a bulldog for the Rainbow Warriors, scoring 27 of a team season-best 31 points in the second half and grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds — 10 on the offensive glass — in a 78-73 win over UC Santa Barbara Saturday at the Thunderdome.

The win was Hawaii’s first in five games on the mainland and its first road victory in the Big West. The Rainbow Warriors are 5-4 in conference and 11-9 overall. UCSB falls to 3-5, 7-12.

"Today, I thought the team grew up," Hawaii coach Gib Arnold said. "The first road win is huge. It’s not easy. That should give us some confidence that we can win some big games on the road."

The win in Santa Barbara came two days after a debacle up Highway 101 at Cal Poly. There, the ‘Bows suffered their worst loss of the season, a 29-point blowout against the Mustangs.

Arnold said he challenged his players before they took the court against the Gauchos.

"The biggest thing was (the coaching staff) challenged them that we haven’t been playing as hard as the team has in the past," he said. "I thought every last one of them played their hearts out tonight.

"We didn’t scream and yell and swear, anything like that," he added about the post-Cal Poly conversation. "We just talked about who we are and who we want to become, and who we want to represent. The only thing we put on the (white) board is to ask yourself if you played your hardest. If everyone can answer that, we’ll probably be smiling. And, if we answer that and we don’t win, we still feel good about ourselves. That’s what we did."

Arnold said he had a heart-to-heart talk with the team’s seniors: Jace Tavita, Vander Joaquim and Hauns Brereton.

"I met with them (Friday) night and told them this is your team. I need you to get us out of this funk and they responded. They took it upon themselves and all three of those men did a great job."

Brereton and Joaquim got the team going in the first half, scoring 13 and 10 points, respectively, and Tavita dished out six of his team-high eight assists as Hawaii took a 36-34 lead into the locker room.

"Vander came out and he was aggressive and got us going, and we just followed his lead," said Brereton, who made three of four 3-pointers in the first half and finished the game with 16 points.

"He was a calming influence out there, especially early, when the game was kind of going up and down," Arnold said of Brereton. "We had a good, hard punch thrown at us a couple of days ago; we were still staggering. He made those 3s early and all of a sudden: ‘OK, now we got Hauns back.’ He went for a month or so there struggling; now he’s back. That really opened up the inside."

With UCSB’s leading scorer and rebounder, 6-foot-7, 240-pound Alan Williams, sidelined with a hamstring injury, Joaquim took advantage inside, scoring on his baby hook shot and getting to the free-throw line. He hit four straight free throws in the first half and went 5-for-5 for the game to finish with 17 points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds.

The second half belonged to Standhardinger, who became only the fourth UH player to score 30 or more points and grab 15 or more rebounds. He was relentless on the glass and on drives to the hoop.

"Our best play was a missed shot because he was able to go and get it," Arnold cracked.

Standhardinger’s effort propelled Hawaii to an 18-9 run in the first 6:30 of the second half to give it a 54-43 lead. During that stretch, he grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds that led to three-point plays — one by Joaquim and the other by himself — and scored seven points.

"He’s a hard-playing son of a gun and a lot of people got to see that," Arnold said of the 6-8 power forward from Munich, Germany. "That was as tough of a game (as) I’ve seen anybody play."

Standhardinger, who made 10 of 15 shots from the floor and 11 of 17 from the free-throw line, said it was all about playing with a sense of urgency.

"We all wanted to win this game very bad," he said. "I played as hard as possible; good things happen when you play hard as a team.

"We want to be a contender in this league and want to finish strong," he added. "Everybody has lapses, like Duke. It’s about how you bounce back."

Standhardinger converted a three-point play after another offensive rebound (and a goaltending call against UCSB) to put the Rainbow Warriors up by 15, 63-48, with 10:21 left in the second half.

UCSB guard TJ Taylor went off for back-to-back 3-pointers and a conventional three-point play to pull the Gauchos to within seven at 66-59.

But Standhardinger stepped up again for Hawaii and scored on a long pass from Brandon Spearman and drove in for another basket to raise the lead back up to 11, 70-59, with 5:24 to go.

UCSB cut the deficit to six again (72-66) on an offensive rebound by Shawn Moore.

Standhardinger, however, would not allow UH to come home without a victory. He scored on a three-point play and finished an assist by Brereton to put the game out of reach at 77-66.

"Christian played spectacular today," Brereton said. "We brought an energy level we needed to win.

"We knew it was coming; it was just matter of when," Brereton said of the road win. "Luckily, it came tonight. We were excited because this was (assistant) coach (Scott) Fisher’s alma mater, so it felt good."

Hawaii shot 47 percent, making 25 of 53 from the floor, and took 39 free throws, making 25 for 64 percent.

The ‘Bows played well defensively, shutting down Gaucho 3-point threats Kyle Boswell and Taran Brown. Boswell was 0-for-3 and Brown 1-for-12 from behind the arc.

Brown led the Gauchos with 15 points, Boswell had 12 and Taylor 11.

Hawaii outrebounded UCSB 45-30, which, to Arnold, showed how hard the team played.

"There’s no substitute for hard work," he said. "We didn’t do anything great, honestly, but these guys played really, really hard."