Instead of busting brackets, the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team bucked Broncos last night.

The Rainbow Warriors rallied from a 12-point deficit to defeat Santa Clara, 67-57, in a non-conference game.

A crowd of 5,126 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the 'Bows improve to 14-9 with their sixth consecutive home victory.

The Broncos, who are from the West Coast Conference, dropped to 9-15.

"Overall, a good effort against a team that really fought us hard and is well-coached," Hawai'i coach Riley Wallace said. "I'm proud of our guys for being able to come back from where they were and the kind of game we were in."

The 'Bows trailed for the first 30 minutes of the 40-minute game, but rallied behind a sensational second half from Julian Sensley.

The 6-foot-9 senior forward scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the second half. During a stretch of 4 minutes, 49 seconds, Sensley scored 16 consecutive points for Hawai'i.

It was during that stretch that the 'Bows took their first lead of the game.

"I was just getting a good feel on the ball," said Sensley, who added seven rebounds and four assists. "My teammates did a good job of getting me open and giving me the ball in the right places, and I was able to finish."

Sensley went 9 of 16 from the field, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.

Three other 'Bows had productive nights: Matt Lojeski scored 16 points, Ahmet Gueye had 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, and Deonte Tatum had 12 points and eight assists.

Matthew Gipson scored two points, giving the starters all of the points.

Early in the game, that starting five was getting blitzed.

Santa Clara opened the game with a 6-0 lead and maintained it the entire half. The Broncos increased the lead to 30-18 before taking a 32-24 advantage at intermission.

"Boy, was that first half ugly," Wallace said. "We just weren't ready to play at the level they were."

However, Wallace said the Hawai'i locker room was relatively calm at halftime.

"There was no screaming, ranting and raving by anybody," he said. "We just called on their pride."

In particular, the 'Bows were asked to be more aggressive on defense.

Travis Niesen, a 6-7 senior forward, controlled the low post in the first half for Santa Clara with 15 points and six rebounds. He only took six shots in the second half (making three), and finished with team-highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds.

"We made a lot of mistakes (in the first half)," Gueye said. "All the bigs had to step it up and play better defense."

Sensley said: "We just started doing a better job of communicating on defense."

As proof, the Broncos shot 29.6 percent from the field in the second half (8 of 27) after shooting 43.8 percent in the first half (14 of 32).

"It seemed like it was a lot harder for us to get a good shot in the second half, and when we did, we couldn't make them," Niesen said. "I think we matched (Hawai'i's) energy, they were just able to make more open shots than we did."

Hawai'i shot 41.7 percent from the field in the first half (10 of 24), and then improved to 57.1 percent in the second (16 of 28).

"We didn't make shots, I think that was one of the things," Santa Clara coach Dick Davey said. "But the key thing was they were."

The Broncos led by 10 early in the second half before the 'Bows started their rally behind Sensley.

At the start of his 16-point run, the 'Bows trailed, 43-37. By the end of it, Hawai'i was ahead, 53-49, with 7:16 remaining.

Sensley made four 3-pointers during the surge, and also had a one-handed dunk after a drive across the baseline.

"We knew he was capable of that," Niesen said. "When he's making shots like that, the whole team feeds off him. He brought the whole level of the team up."

Wallace said Tatum also deserved credit for the second-half surge, in part because he was calling most of the plays.

"Deonte again keyed a lot of things for us," Wallace said. "He orchestrated a good game."

Santa Clara's Brandon Rohe hit a 3-pointer with 6:51 remaining to cut Hawai'i's lead to 53-52, but the 'Bows pulled away after that. It would be the Broncos' last field goal of the game.

Santa Clara played without starting guard Joey Kaempf (injured) and top reserve Calvin Johnson (attending a funeral in Texas).

The victory did not help the 'Bows in the Western Athletic Conference, but Wallace said: "It helps us with momentum and it helps us to see how we have to prepare and get ready to play everybody."

Hawai'i and Santa Clara were part of the 100-team pool for the ESPN BracketBusters, but neither was selected for one of the 13 nationally televised games.

The 'Bows are scheduled to depart Honolulu today for WAC games at Idaho on Wednesday, and then at San Jose State on Saturday.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.