Dawson Baker scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lift UC Irvine to tonight’s 76-68 victory over Hawaii in the Bren Events Center on the Anteaters’ campus in Southern California.

The outcome dropped the Rainbow Warriors to 14-5 overall and 5-2 in the Big West. The ’Bows complete this stretch of four games in eight days with Saturday’s road game against first-place UC Riverside. The Anteaters improved to 13-6 and 6-1.

UCI scored 12 of the first 14 points and never trailed.

The ’Bows closed to 37-34 with 17 minutes to play but would get no closer against the short-handed Anteaters. UCI was without posts Bent Leuchten and Chazz Hutchinson. But Dean Keeler and Akiva McBirney-Griffin were able to control the low post — the Anteaters produced 44 paint points — and Baker was able to find baskets with creative moves.

UH point guard JoVon McClanahan missed his first five shots but scored all 14 of his points in the final seven minutes.

“We’re fortunate to be in the game with the lapses we’ve had,” UH coach Eran Ganot said, referencing six early turnovers and being beaten on the boards for the first time in seven league games.