Hawaii running back Diocemy Saint Juste racked up 207 rushing yards on just 19 carries in the Rainbow Warriors' win over Nevada. Steve Erler | SL

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Hawaii running back Diocemy Saint Juste racked up 207 rushing yards on just 19 carries in the Rainbow Warriors' win over Nevada. Steve Erler | SL

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The Rainbow Warriors piled up 344 rushing yards and 566 of total offense — both season-highs — in a 38-17 victory over Nevada in front of a home crowd of just under 21,000 at Hawaiian Tel FCU Field at Aloha Stadium Saturday night.

With the win, Hawaii improves to a 2-3 overall record on the season while snapping a nine-game Mountain West Conference losing streak dating back Nov. 2014 when the Rainbow Warriors defeated UNLV 37-35 on a last-second pass to the end zone.

First-year Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich was proud of the way his team played, but emotionally stricken after embracing many of his former Wolf Pack players after the game concluded.

"I'm very grateful that they believed in our coaching staff. The staff did a great job. I didn't do anything. Those kids made this happen," Rolovich said in his post-game presser. "They're playing the game they love and they represented what Hawaii football was meant to be tonight at home, at conference and they got a win."

Rolovich previously spent four years from 2012–2015 as Nevada's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Many of the players he coached and recruited to play there were lined up on the opposite sideline Saturday night.

"It was harder than I thought it was going to be," Rolovich said. "Those kids at Nevada mean a lot to me. You talk about the extreme joy our locker room has, and the extreme disappointment and hurt their locker room has, and I have love for both guys. It's a little bit hard for me.

"But I'm Hawaii and that's where my heart is."

Diocemy Saint Juste led the ground attack with 205 yards on 19 carries, and three different ball carriers scored a touchdown for the Rainbow Warriors. Saint Juste became just the 10th player in UH history to run for over 200 yards in a game.

Sophomore quarterback Dru Brown made the most of his first start at the FBS Division I level, with 222 yards on 15-of-18 passing and two scores. He also rushed for 44 yards.

"For him to have some success and really lead this football team on offense, I'm happy for him," Rolovich said. "He took a chance on us. He came to Hawaii and was looking for that opportunity to play college football at the D-I level and he should be proud of himself."

Hawaii jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage, with a Rigoberto Sanchez field goal from 27 yards out at the 5:23 mark in the first quarter, and pushed the score to 10-0 on a Steven Lakalaka (Punahou '12) four-yard touchdown run with 8:43 left in the second.

Nevada finally got on the scoreboard with 2:28 left until halftime on a Brent Zuzo field goal, but the Rainbow Warriors answered with a score in the dying stages of the first half, as Brown hooked up with Metuisela Unga for a 16-yard score through the air to put the home team up 17-3 at the break.

Coming out of the intermission, the Rainbow Warriors proceeded to add 21-straight points to their lead on touchdown runs from John Ursua and Kaiwi Chung (Kamehameha '14) that bookended Unga's second reception for a score.

Trailing 38-3 in the fourth, Nevada added two late scores: one, a nine-yard pass from Tyler Stewart to Wyatt Demps, and the other, a two-yard rush by Jason Kincaide to close out the scoring for the game.

On the defensive side for the Wolf Pack, redshirt-sophomores Jake Lacaden (Saint Louis '14) and Kalei Meyer (Kamehameha '14) each recorded a solo tackle.

Prior to the opening kickoff, a moment of silence was held in honor of 2014 Iolani graduate and former Nevada football player Marc Ma, who passed away earlier this year in mid-June.