Noel Coleman’s big game against his former school propelled the Hawaii men’s basketball team to a tournament title and its first 5-0 start in more than a decade.

Coleman poured in 26 points against San Diego, where he began his college career as a guard out of Belgium, and the Rainbow Warriors captured their four-team bracket in the Acrisure Invitational with a 77-66 win over the Toreros at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, Calif., on Saturday.

UH is 5-0 for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

“I’m really happy for our guys,” UH coach Eran Ganot told Spectrum News. “There’s some things you’d like to have back and play better, especially near the end of the last couple games, but there’s some clear flashes shown as well. Nice to see our defensive pop coming.”

Coleman, who led UH in scoring average the last two seasons, has hiked his output to 16.4 per game.

Saturday was the second-highest total of his four-year UH career, behind only his 31 against Vanderbilt in the 2021 Diamond Head Classic. He shot 11-for-18 from the field, 2-for-4 from beyond the arc and 2-for-4 at the line.

Justin McKoy added 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting and JoVon McClanahan put in 14 of his 17 points in the second half. Harry Rouhliadeff added nine off the bench.

Ganot said Coleman’s history with USD — which has an overhauled coaching staff and roster from his time there in the 2019-20 season — didn’t come up in team discussion before or during the game. UH assistant coach Rob Jones also spent time at USD before transferring to Saint Mary’s to finish his college career.

Ganot said a key against USD was getting guard penetration against the Toreros’ lengthy forwards, followed by the right read on a take or kick-out. Coleman set the tone in that regard.

“Certainly he played incredibly well. It’s good to see,” Ganot said. “It’s going to be different guys on different nights, but everyone can get going. That will bode well for us moving forward.”

UH led by nine at halftime, had the lead trimmed to seven early in the second half before pushing its advantage to as many as 21 points.

Steve Lavin’s Toreros (5-2) of the West Coast Conference gave up a season high scoring total.

The degree of difficulty takes a sharp increase for the Rainbow Warriors in their third and final game of their road trip. UH takes on its first power conference opponent of the season in Utah of the Pac-12 at the Utah Jazz’s Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday.

The Utes (3-2) first travel to the Bay Area to face Saint Mary’s on Monday. The Utes rate No. 46 in KenPom to Hawaii’s 110.

“We’re pleased with how we traveled,” Ganot said. “We’re going to have a quick turnaround and we’ve got to recharge the batteries. We’ll watch some film and try to get better for a tough Utah team coming up.”

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.