White-Out Win.

WOW.

That's probably the reaction of the rest of the Western Athletic Conference after the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team's statement-making 94-71 victory over New Mexico State last night.

A "White-Out" crowd of 3,485 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Rainbow Warriors improve to 9-11 overall and move into fourth place in the WAC at 5-3. The 'Bows are just one game behind first-place Utah State, which is 5-1.

Last night's victory was surprising for the margin more than anything else. The only team to beat New Mexico State by a larger margin this season was Duke.

New Mexico State, which came to Honolulu off a 30-point victory over Utah State, dropped to 11-12 and 5-3.

"I give my team credit for giving a great effort," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said. "The hustle was there for every single play."

The 'Bows out-hustled, out-shot and out-ran the Aggies practically from start to finish.

Matt Gibson led the effort with 20 points and a career-high 11 assists. He shot 8 of 15 from the field, and guided the Hawai'i offense to its best performance of the season.

"That's what we're capable of," Gibson said. "That's not me, that's guys knocking down shots."

Jared Dillinger led the shooters with a career-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers.

"We just played hard the whole way through," Gibson said. "We gave great effort. Shooters knocked down shots. We took the momentum and rolled with it."

Riley Luettgerodt added 17 points, including 8-of-8 free-throw shooting, and Bobby Nash contributed 16 points.

Hawai'i reached its season-high for points, 3-pointers (11) and assists (25). The 'Bows also shot 52.4 percent from the field, including 47.8 percent from 3-point range.

"I thought our guys did a good job in a lot of different areas," Bob Nash said.

About the only negative news from the game was a knee injury to starting forward P.J. Owsley early in the second half. Owsley crumpled to the court while defending New Mexico State center Hatila Passos, and needed to be helped off the court. He did not return to the game, and Nash said Owsley is "day to day."

Nash said Owsley will likely sit out tomorrow's WAC home game against Louisiana Tech.

"P.J.'s knee cap popped a little bit," Nash said. "I don't think it's anything serious, but we're making sure. The early prognosis is it's not as serious as it seemed."

Last night, it didn't matter.

The 'Bows took control early and never looked back.

Gibson sparked an 11-0 run midway through the first half that gave the 'Bows a 34-19 lead. He scored five points, had two steals, and jumped over the UH bench to save an errant ball during the surge.

"Doing all the small things it takes to win," Gibson said. "And we did it for 40 minutes."

Hawai'i increased its lead to as many as 18 late in the first half before taking a 43-29 lead at intermission. As the Aggies walked off the court, they could be seen bickering among themselves about shot selection.

"(Hawai'i) looked like a team that's been together for a full season and we looked disjointed," New Mexico State head coach Marvin Menzies said. "We had emotional breakdowns on the bench. We had different things going on within our own team which made it a distraction to just concentrate on the game and play."

New Mexico State also committed 14 turnovers in the first half, and it led directly to 15 Hawai'i points. The Aggies had 24 turnovers for the game.

"That was the story of the game," Menzies said. "The points off turnovers gave them the momentum they needed. I can't pinpoint why we did so bad taking care of the ball, but we did."

Immediately after Owsley's injury, the Aggies went on a 12-5 run to cut Hawai'i's lead to 57-47 with 10:02 remaining.

But Dillinger hit a 3-pointer — his fifth of the game — to ignite a 13-2 run that put the 'Bows back in control at 70-49.

"It was within the offense," Dillinger said. "It was good timing and Matt (Gibson) makes it real easy out there. I was just trying to find an open spot and just shoot it."

New Mexico State never got closer than 17 in the game's final six minutes.

Bob Nash said the key to last night's performance could be traced to the team's preparation — physically and mentally.

In particular, he instructed his team to "not be too hyped up" for the talented Aggies.

"We didn't want to get in a situation where we were pumped up," he said. "When that emotion wears off, what do you have? We wanted to stay very professional in our approach. I think the guys approached the game in a poised, confident manner and did a nice job of doing the things we're capable of doing."

The Aggies played without suspended forward Jahmar Young, but still had All-WAC forward Justin Hawkins, WAC Preseason Newcomer of the Year Herb Pope, and 6-11 centers Passos and Martin Iti.

"Off the bat, we wanted to hit them in the mouth," Dillinger said. "I don't think they were ready for that. I think they underestimated us a little bit."

Passos finished with 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting to lead the Aggies. He also grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Aggies to a 39-27 advantage on the boards.

Pope added 16 points, and Hawkins scored 11.

The 'Bows will host last-place Louisiana Tech (3-15, 0-6) tomorrow.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.