For two days, Mother Nature drenched the Hawaiian islands.

On Thursday night, it was the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team that made it rain.

The Rainbow Warriors splashed 18 treys — the program’s most since the NCAA implemented the 3-point shot in 1986 — in cruising to an 88-52 victory over Hawaii Pacific before 1,092 in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

“You could feel it,” UH coach Eran Ganot said of the 3-point outburst. “We talked about it for a while, and that’s with two key shooters out for us right now (with injuries) in Juan (Munoz) and Samuta (Avea). But this is a group we have a lot of confidence in shooting the ball. We just kept feeling it would be a matter of time. We showed glimpses, but we hadn’t shot it well over the course of the year.”

The ’Bows connected on 58.1% of their 31 shots from behind the arc. Noel Coleman, who missed nearly three games because of hip ailment, was 6-for-7 on 3s, including burying four in a row in the second half.

“I felt good,” said Coleman, who finished with 23 points. “My shot felt good. I kept shooting it as I was open. There’s not much to it.”

Junior Madut, Kamaka Hepa and Jerome Desrosiers each hit three 3-pointers. JoVon McClanahan, who entered 1-for-14 on 3s, also sank a deep shot.

“A lot of that comes down to the unselfishness,” Ganot said. “We shared the ball — 21 assists (on 33 baskets). Guys got great shots. We can shoot it. When we share the ball and guys get good looks, good things are going to happen.”

When McClanahan exited with two early fouls, Coleman was summoned to orchestrate the offense. During a recent three-game road trip, Coleman was limited to five minutes after hurting his right hip. Ganot had said Coleman was getting “closer” to being available.

“First it was seeing him in practice for a couple days,” Ganot said, “and then he came out ready to roll. He’s OVERSET FOLLOWS:had such a good offseason. Then he had his setback. You could see it was hard for him to be out. The guys scrapped in his absence.”

Coleman was admittedly “sore, a little tight” during pre-game warmups. “Once the game started going, I think I got warm,” Coleman said. “I didn’t really think about it that much.”

Coleman was able to power into the lane, contract the Sharks’ defense, and then pitch to shooters in the corner or on the wing. When Coleman needed a break, the 6-foot-6 Madut would slide to the point. The Sharks, wary of the ’Bows’ drive-and-kick plays, were burned when Madut drove the lane for a layup to make it 42-24 with five seconds before the intermission.

“I would say when we’re making shots at a high level, the game’s pretty easy,” said Madut, who scored 16 points. “It’s just easier for us to move the ball when people are hitting shots. It opens up the drive. It opens up the post for the bigs. I think when we’re shooting well, that’s our best attribute.”

McClanahan came back in the second half to amass seven of his team-high eight assists.

For all the ’Bows’ scoring, it was their defense that frustrated the Sharks in a 9-0 run to close the first half and an 8-0 drought in the second half.

Madut said the ’Bows’ main focus was on defense in this week’s practices. “That’s one of our identities,” Madut said,

The other goal was to weather the stormy conditions.

“The last three days was crazy,” Hepa said. “The (arena) was leaking from the roof. We weren’t able to practice in there. It was hard to get to practice, and leaving practice was even worse. But we persisted through it.”