IRVINE, Calif. >> Aaron Valdes announced his return to Hawaii’s starting lineup Saturday night with his biggest basket of the season.

Valdes made a 3-point shot with 40.1 seconds to play, enabling the Rainbow Warriors to retain first place in the Big West Conference with a 75-71 victory over second-place UC Irvine in front of 4,312 at the Bren Events Center and a national television audience.

UH (22-3, 11-1) used its sixth consecutive victory and its 14th in 15 contests to extend its lead over the Anteaters (20-8, 9-3) to two games with four to play for each team.

“Ridiculous,” UH coach Eran Ganot said of the UH celebration. “The locker room was a melee. It was energetic. The guys were fired up, the coaches were fired up. It was a special moment, both in terms of the magnitude of the game and the way the game played out. What an impressive road week with the way both games played out.”

The ’Bows’ remaining schedule includes home games against UC Riverside and Cal State Northridge later this week before ending the season on the road against UC Davis and Long Beach State.

Irvine, meanwhile, will face the 49ers at home Wednesday night before ending the season against teams with losing records: Davis, Cal Poly and Riverside.

Valdes missed Thursday night’s game at Northridge after becoming ill last week. But against the Anteaters, Valdes not only started but played 32 minutes and contributed 13 points, six rebounds and an assist.

Stefan Jankovic led all scorers with 25 points. Sai Tummala came off the bench for 11 points and Mike Thomas added 10 points during a game in which UH had to rally from an 11-point deficit in the second half — and survive the hectic final minutes.

The ’Bows used Jankovic’s 10 points in 10 minutes to turn a 46-35 deficit into a 61-60 lead on Isaac Fleming’s 3-point basket with 7:10 to play. But UH would not score for the ensuing three minutes and Irvine moved ahead 68-61 with 4:30 remaining.

But with the Anteaters holding a 71-66 lead with 2:11 left, the ’Bows began their surge with an overturned call.

An official gave Irvine the ball after Roderick Bobbitt’s pass to Thomas went out of bounds with 1:57 to go. But video replay showed that the Anteaters’ Alex Young tipped the ball after Bobbitt passed it, so UH retained possession.

Jankovic drew a foul from 7-foot-6 Mamadou Ndiaye in the lane and made the second of two free throws with 1:45 left to narrow the deficit to 71-67. Thomas followed with a lay-in that drew the ’Bows within two points with 1:17 to go.

Then came the turning point of the game.

Ndiaye made a lay-in with 51.3 seconds remaining that would have extended Irvine’s lead to 73-69. But Ndiaye was called for traveling, so UH again received possession.

Valdes responded with a 3-pointer from the right corner that gave the ’Bows a 72-71 lead with 40.1 seconds left. Yet nothing remained secure.

Irvine’s Luke Nelson fired a 3-point shot off Young’s inbounds pass at halfcourt with 13 seconds left but missed. Bobbitt grabbed the rebound, got fouled by Nelson and made both free throws to extend UH’s lead to 74-71 with 10.7 seconds left.

After the Anteaters’ Jaron Martin missed another attempted 3-pointer, Thomas made one of two free throws after being fouled to ensure the victory.

Bobbitt made five steals to move into second place on UH’s all-time list, and needs another five to pass Tom Henderson for the career record, 160.

The ’Bows also outrebounded Irvine, 34-27, despite the present of Ndiaye, 7-foot-2 Ioannis Dimakopoulos and 6-foot-10 Mike Best in the hosts’ lineup.

Nelson led the Anteaters with 18 points, seven assists and four steals. Ndiaye finished with 15 points, a game-high seven rebounds and three blocks, giving him 200 for his career. Best added 14 points and two blocks.

BIG WEST MEN

Saturday

Hawaii 75, UC Irvine 71

CSUN 75, Cal Poly 71 (OT)

UC Santa Barbara 62, UC Davis 55

Long Beach State 70, Cal State Fullerton 57

Wednesday

Long Beach State at UC Irvine

Thursday

UC Riverside at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center

Cal State Fullerton at Cal Poly

UC Santa Barbara at CSUN

hawaii 75, UC irvine 71

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; r: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.

Halftime — UC Irvine 38, Hawaii 30 3-point goals — Hawaii 7-19 (Tummala 3-3, Jankovic 2-3, Fleming 1-2, Valdes 1-4, Drammeh 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Smith 0-2, Bobbitt 0-3). UC Irvine 3-18 (Young 1-3, Martin 1-5, Nelson 1-5, Dimakopoulos 0-1, Dunning 0-1, Wright 0-3). Steals — Hawaii 6 (Bobbitt 5, Jankovic). UC Irvine 7 (Nelson 4, Martin, Young, Wright). Blocked shots — Hawaii none. UC Irvine 5 (Ndiaye 3, Best 2). Turnovers — Hawaii 13 (Bobbitt 4, Fleming 2, Jankovic 2, Jovanovic 2, Valdes 2, Smith). UC Irvine 11 (Martin 3, Ndiaye 2, Wright 2, Best, Dimakopoulos, Dunning, Nelson). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Tom Nally, Brett Nansel, Rob Rorke. A — NA.