FULLERTON, Calif. » After months of uncertainty — and in the face of possible NCAA sanctions — Hawaii achieved a rare accomplishment Saturday night.

The Rainbow Warriors won their 20th game of the season, defeating Cal State Fullerton 91-70 in their Big West Conference regular-season finale at Titan Gym.

UH (20-12, 8-8) thus reaches the 20-win plateau for the second consecutive season. Only three other times in team history did the Rainbows win at least 20 games in successive seasons, the last occasions being 1996-97 and 1997-98.

Enhancing this year’s accomplishment is the atmosphere of uncertainty surrounding the basketball program. Hawaii faces possible sanctions for violation of NCAA rules.

The Rainbows began this season with an interim head coach — Benjy Taylor, who replaced the fired Gib Arnold — and without its best player — All-Big West center Isaac Fotu, who left campus to pursue a professional career.

"We didn’t think three or four months ago that we’d be in this situation," Taylor said about winning 20 games. "But it’s just unbelievable to get 20 wins. Even if you start the season and everything goes smooth, 20 is 20.

"Personally, it means a lot. For this group of guys, it’s something that they’ll always sink their teeth into."

The victory over Fullerton (9-22, 1-15) — the only team not competing in next week’s conference tournament — secured the fifth seed for UH, which will face fourth-seeded Long Beach State.

"I think we played great tonight," said guard Garrett Nevels, who scored a game-high 16 points. "Everybody was locked in. We’ll just get more momentum and more confidence going into the conference tournament."

Stefan Jovanovic contributed a career-high 15 points against the Titans’ 6-foot-10 Kennedy Esume and 6-foot-7 Steve McClellan, who averaged 8.2 rebounds before Saturday night’s game.

"Getting 15 points in my last regular-season game is a big deal for me with the opponents I had," the 6-foot-11 Jovanovic said. "Those are really good centers. They’re really strong and it’s really hard to play against them."

The Warriors dominated early. Nevels scored five points and Stefan Jankovic added four more as UH began the game by making six straight shots during a 14-1 blitz in the first 4 minutes, 36 seconds.

Fullerton missed its first six shots, did not score until Sheldon Blackwell made a free throw 2:54 into the game — and did not make a basket until Alex Harris converted a jumper after 4:53 had expired.

But UH’s tendency to relinquish large leads to Big West opponents on the road began to manifest itself, as the Titans twice narrowed their deficit to three points. However, no collapse would take place this time.

"I’ve got a group that’s starting to execute," Taylor said. "If we come out of a timeout, we can get a good shot because of our guard play."

Nevels played a pivotal role. After Fullerton drew within 39-36 with 57 seconds gone in the second half, the senior guard made a 3-point shot, got fouled while scoring on a lay-in and converted the ensuing free throw to start an 11-0 spurt that extended the Warriors’ lead to 50-36 with 17 minutes to play. The visitors would lead by as many as 25 points.

Why the tendency to fade on the road?

"I think it’s probably lack of experience," Nevels said. "That’s what I’d say. But as the season keeps going on, we’re learning from our mistakes. So I don’t think we’ll do that anymore."

Taylor dismissed the possibility that a lack of mental or physical discipline is the reason.

"Discipline," Taylor said, "is winning 20 games with a group that has only one returning starter and nobody (else) who played over nine minutes a game."