Beau Yap, the unquestioned senior leader of the Hawaii defense, stood on the end of the Rainbow Warriors bench, as close as possible to the spot where UH’s final play was snapped.

Expressionless, helpless, and alone in his thoughts, the Hawaii-born, Hawaii-bred defensive lineman had played his final snap on Hawaiian Airlines Field in a UH uniform.

The game was out of his hands and left to the 11 offensive players on the field as Hawaii trailed by four with five seconds remaining.

The ball was thrown over the middle and fell incomplete to the turf. It was over, for a fleeting second, until Yap raised his right hand and pointed one finger to the sky.

"We never stopped believing," the Kamehameha alumnus said. "Even with one second, it wasn’t over."

When Marcus Kemp caught the game-winning touchdown pass to give UH a 37-35 victory, Yap dropped to a knee and buried his head in his hands for a moment before standing back up.

He still didn’t say a word as teammates congratulated him until Ikaika Woolsey, the embattled UH quarterback who made the winning throw, ran off the field and immediately sought out the defensive captain.

They shared a long embrace, and it was as if Yap realized then he could let go and celebrate an emotional, physically draining comeback win.

"I don’t know, man, it was a speechless moment for me," Yap said. "I wish it wasn’t this close and didn’t have to come down to the end, but it’s a great way to go out on senior night."

Yap has been on the other end of those games too many times over the past four years to worry about how the defense played.

Coming off a shutout at San Jose State last week, UH kept UNLV off the scoreboard for all of two plays, as backup quarterback Jared Lebowitz scored on an 18-yard touchdown run on his second play from scrimmage.

It got worse on the next drive as UNLV rolled up 98 yards — 81 coming on one pass from Lebowitz to Devante Davis — in seven plays to go up 14-0.

UH adjusted and held UNLV scoreless for more than 40 minutes before Blake Decker, UNLV’s normal starter at QB, replaced Lebowitz in the fourth quarter and threw three touchdown passes, including a 7-yarder to tight end Taylor Barnhill with 15 seconds left to put UNLV ahead 35-31.

"There was a lot of good things and a lot of bad things," defensive coordinator Kevin Clune said. "We didn’t start well, didn’t finish — played some good ball there in the middle there— but we’ve got to do a better job defensively."

UH can worry about that starting Sunday as it tries to win three straight games for the first time since 2010 on Saturday at Fresno State to end the season.

On this night, especially for the 23 seniors, some of whom have suffered through a 14-35 record since the start of the 2011 season, they get to celebrate for a bit. It’s been a long time since UH has felt this good in back-to-back weeks.

"Me and some of the boys put our heads together and prayed at the end," said fifth-year senior Moses Samia, who blocked a field goal late in the second quarter.

The offense made sure those prayers were answered.