UC Riverside was shorthanded, down its starting backcourt. Instead of capitalizing on the situation, Hawaii squandered it.

Riverside executed with poise down the stretch and earned its fourth straight Big West victory, 70-64 on Wednesday night. It was the Highlanders’ second straight win at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The crowd of 3,324 filed out in numb disappointment as a team that was at one point 1-9 — and missing 20 points of production — outworked UH at key points. Riverside (6-11, 4-2 Big West) made nine of 10 at the free-throw line in the final 1:31 to close it out not long after UH rallied from 10 points down to tie it at 59.

“It all comes down to effort,” said guard Leland Green. “We didn’t play with much effort tonight. And we’ll change that.”

A slow start and sporadic scoring droughts contributed to the Rainbow Warriors dropping to 8-11 overall, 2-4 in the Big West and 2-2 on their five-game homestand that concludes Saturday against lowly UC Santa Barbara (3-15, 1-5).

Riverside’s streak tied a program record, despite the fact Chance Murray and Malik Thames, its second- and fourth-leading scorers, weren’t even on the island.

But guard Dikymbe Martin, who came off the bench the last four games, stepped into the starting lineup and scored a game-high 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including a finger-roll layup with 2:24 left that was the go-ahead score. Forwards Alex Larsson and Secean Johnson combined to add 25.

UH players said they were aware of Riverside’s lineup shift pregame.

“I did not do a good job clearly getting our guys ready to go,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “Our energy was flat, it wasn’t there, we weren’t inspired. At half, for some reason, we were only down four (34-30) and we were in the game.

“But there’s a spirit and a fight that needs to be there for any team, let alone a team that’s going through some struggles. And we didn’t have that. … We gotta get back to representing.”

Gibson Johnson had 16 points to lead UH on 6-for-8 shooting, Green scored 15 and Sheriff Drammeh added 11 off the bench.

Noah Allen entered the game riding a three-game streak of 25-plus points, but was held to eight points on 2-for-7 shooting.

Allen hit a corner 3 to get UH within 64-62 with 54 seconds left, but fouled out on a Secean Johnson drive at the other end.

“This wasn’t a Noah Allen situation,” Ganot said. “We had a lot of things that prevented us from coming out with the outcome (we wanted).”

Just like every other game during the homestand, UH found itself in another tight one.

Riverside earned a plethora of easy looks inside early on, resulting in 60 percent shooting in the first half and 50 percent for the game. It opened the game up 7-0.

The Highlanders had only three turnovers in the second half after committing 11 in the first. They attempted all of their 17 free throws after the break, making 13.

Meanwhile, UH shot 40.8 percent.

“Effort always looks bad too when you’re not making shots,” UH’s Johnson said. “You’re losing. It feels like you can’t get in a rhythm. Those kind of go hand in hand. But our defensive effort and rebounding effort could’ve been better.”

Riverside coach Dennis Cutts called it a “coach’s decision,” to leave two of his best players home.

“Obviously missing our starting backcourt was a challenge, but Dikymbe Martin was incredible,” Cutts said. “Incredible performances. Everybody just performed. We’re playing within a system, plugging guys in. It was a great effort.”

He said his handful of returnees drew upon their experience here last year, a stunning 77-71 win, down the stretch.

“Great basketball environment, and it was a similar game,” Cutts said. “We got a lead, they made a run at it. We referenced that late in that game. Same thing. Two-point game, four minutes to go on the road, that’s all your can ask for, and we made the right plays.”