That’s more like it.

After absorbing a home loss to UC Riverside on Thursday and going through some early fits against Cal State Northridge, Hawaii asserted itself as the first-place team in the Big West Conference and rolled to an 89-78 win on Saturday’s senior night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Much of the “Whiteout” turnstile crowd of 9,103 — the second sellout of the season for ticket sales — hung around for ceremonies honoring outgoing players Quincy Smith, Roderick Bobbitt, Sai Tummala and Dyrbe Enos.

“It means the world,” said junior forward Stefan Jankovic, who scored a game-high 28 points. “We’ve been through so much, to honor the seniors like this you can’t end any better for them.”

UH (23-4, 12-2 Big West) eclipsed last season’s win total and maintained a one-game lead over UC Irvine in the conference standings. Because Irvine held on to win 62-61 at UC Davis while the Rainbows played, UH could not yet clinch the No. 1 seed for the Big West tournament. It can do it with a victory at Davis on Thursday.

Eran Ganot became the program’s new leader for wins for a first-year head coach with two regular-season games to play plus the Big West tournament and possible postseason beyond.

“It was a hard-fought, physical, emotional game,” Ganot said. “Not so impressed with our defense at the start, but pleased with the way we continued to grind and separate in the second half and come out with an emotional win. Happy for these guys to get to enjoy this moment.”

The Rainbows got it done despite committing a season high in turnovers (23) for the second time in nine days against the Matadors (10-19, 5-10). UH completed the season sweep after winning by six at the Matadome.

Point guard Roderick Bobbitt came off the bench for the second time this season, a day after getting publicly reprimanded by the Big West for verbally going after coach Dennis Cutts late in the loss to Riverside. Freshman Sheriff Drammeh got the start.

Bobbitt checked in with 12:29 to play in the first half and UH leading 15-6. The senior missed his first six shots and had some uncharacteristic turnovers. He had 13 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, but also shot 2-for-12 from the field and committed eight giveaways.

The two-year UH player, who came out of junior college, was thankful for the crowd’s reception afterward.

“People welcomed me in, all the fans, everybody,” Bobbitt said. “This is a great honor. I see myself moving here in the future, later on. Just a wonderful place and wonderful people. … We already knew we could fight through adversity, and stay together, stick together. That was the main key and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Ganot said: “We had the conversation right after the (Riverside) game. Things needed to be addressed. You gotta be accountable and he was. He apologized to the team and the coaches, and we move on. I thought we should bring him off (the bench) and I told him that.”

Both teams struggled defensively early, and UH led by just a point at halftime but gradually pulled away in the second half.

Jankovic was close to his most efficient, shooting 8-for-10 from the field and 10-for-12 at the free-throw line. Tummala scored 16 with six rebounds and Smith added 10.

Jankovic connected on his first eight shots from the field. He was a combined 20-for-23 in two wins over the Matadors (10-19, 5-10). He put in a career-high 34 points at the Matadome, giving him 62 in the home-and-home series.

“When you have a guy like Jankovic … he really changes things,” said CSUN coach Reggie Theus, who complimented the game atmosphere. “We don’t have a player like that.”

“Hawaii is very capable of winning the Big West tournament,” Theus added. “But the tournament is different. They need their core three, four guys to be on.”

UH shot 52.8 percent from the field to 42.6 percent for CSUN, which is ineligible for the Big West tournament because of a self-imposed postseason ban.

Aaron Parks led CSUN with 18 points, while Jerron Wilbut added 17 and Kendall Smith — the younger brother of UH’s Quincy — had 15 on 6-for-20 shooting.

Kendall Smith watched from a Sheriff tunnel and clapped as his brother went up for an alley-oop jam, then greeted him on the court afterward.

“The win was just the icing on the cake,” said Quincy Smith, a three-year UH player. “(Kendall) was just happy for me. We’ve been through a lot, me personally I’ve been through a lot. Just to be here is a dream come true. To have my family and friends here, in Hawaii, is a blessing.”

Tummala, a transfer from Arizona State, exited to a round of applause with 26.3 seconds to go and UH up 11.

The fourth outgoing player, Enos, got in for the final 1:30 and the 5-foot-10 guard got a hoist from some teammates to complete his senior dunk.

There’s also the possibility that some of the junior class might have played its last home game. The juniors can depart after this season without the usual penalty of sitting out games for another Division I team next year, because of UH’s postseason ban in place next season.

BIG WEST MEN

Saturday

Hawaii 89, CSUN 78

Long Beach State 66, UC Riverside 55

UC Santa Barbara 80, Cal State Fullerton 62

UC Irvine 62, UC Davis 61

Wednesday

Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton

Thursday

Hawaii at UC Davis, 5 p.m.

UC Riverside at UC Santa Barbara

Cal Poly at UC Irvine

Hawaii 89, CSUN 78

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 — Hawaii 43, CSUN 42 3-point goals — CSUN 1-9 (Wilbut 1-3, Hale-Edmerson 0-1, Warren 0-2, Smith 0-3). Hawaii 4-16 (Jankovic 2-2, Tummala 2-4, Enos 0-1, Drammeh 0-1, Valdes 0-2, Bobbitt 0-6). Steals — CSUN 12 (Smith 3, Warren 3, Wilbut 3, Hale-Edmerson, Parks, Douglas). Hawaii 9 (Bobbitt 2, Smith 2, Jankovic 2, Drammeh, Valdes, Tummala). Blocked shots — CSUN 2 (Dawson, Wilbut). Hawaii 5 (Jankovic 3, Valdes, Thomas). Turnovers — CSUN 17 (Parks 5, Warren 4, Wilbut 2, Smith 2, Dawson 2, Hale-Edmerson, Richardson). Hawaii 23 (Bobbitt 8, Smith 6, Valdes 2, Jankovic 2, Drammeh, Thomas, Tummala, Enos, Team.) Technical fouls — CSUN 1 (Smith). Hawaii 1 (Thomas) Officials — Daryl Galinas, Kurt Walker, Brady Chelette. A — 9,103