The Rainbow Warriors celebrate after scoring a touchdown against Middle Tennessee. CJ Caraang | SL

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Sat, Dec 24, 2016 @ Aloha Stadium [ 3:00 pm ]

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Middle Tennessee

35

Hawaii

52

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Middle Tennessee	14	7	7	7	35
Hawaii	14	21	10	7	52

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Dru Brown 274 yd 4 TD

Brent Stockstill 432 yd 4 TD

Diocemy Saint Juste 165 yd

ITavius Mathers 57 yd 1 TD

John Ursua 120 yd

Richie James 175 yd 2 TD

HALAWA—The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors unwrapped their gifts early on Christmas Eve as they erased an 14 point first quarter deficit to beat Middle Tennessee, 52-35, at Aloha Stadium in front of 20,327 fans.

"We thank you the support throughout the year. I thought they represented the university well and I'm happy they went out with a win tonight," said Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich.

The Warriors (7-7 overall, 4-4 MW), made their first appearance in the bowl game since 2010 and snap a three-game bowl losing streak. Hawaii last won the Hawaii Bowl in 2006 when it beat Arizona State, 41-24.

"I would like to congratulate Hawaii, Coach Rolovich, his staff and players. Obviously we're disappointed about the outcome of the game. We didn't play well enough to win," said Middle Tennessee coach Rick Stockstill.

Dru Brown, who was named the bowl MVP, threw for 274 yards, tossed four touchdowns on 20-for-30 passing. John Ursua caught six passes for 120 yards, Tui Unga caught three passes for 54 yards and two scores and Marcus Kemp caught three passes for 64 yards and a score.

Hawaii outgained Middle Tennesee on the ground with 205 net rushing yards to 110--Diocemy Saint Juste rushed for 170 yards on 25 carries.

"The offensive line played well the last two games. I still think I made some mistakes but they weren't magnified. The receivers played great and coaches made the right plays," said Brown.

Stockstill threw for 432 yards on 30-for-51 passing, four touchdowns and two interceptions to lead the Blue Raiders (8-6 overall, 5-3 C-USA). Richie James caught a game-high nine passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns.

"We moved the ball and scored points, but weren't effective enough," said coach Stockstill.

Middle Tennessee jumped out to a 14-0 lead after a 20-yard run by ITavius Mathers and Brent Stockstill threw a 51-yard touchdown to Richie James.

The Warriors' defense helped set up scoring opportunities. Jahlani Tavai recovered the fumble and 5 seconds later, Dru Brown found Metuisela Unga for a 18-yard score. Steven Lakalaka's 1-yard run tied the game at 14.

"We started off slow and on the sideline we said, 'Enough is enough'. They had a good scheme, they made plays and we made plays," said Kory Rasmussen.

"It's never one thing that determines the outcome of the game. We struggled with their blitzing, we did a better job in the second quarter picking it up. The first interception, I thought it was a simultaneous catch, Brent misfired that turned a pick into a touchdown," said coach Stockstill.

Brown gave the Warriors their first lead of the game at after a 2-yard option keeper and Hawaii would take the lead off of Trayvon Henderson's 68-yard interception return to make it, 28-14.

After the Warriors went three-and-out, the Blue Raiders marched six plays and 82 yards capped by Stockstill's 3-yard pass to Ty Lee to bring it within a one-score game, 28-21.

Brown threw his second touchdown of the game to Marcus Kemp for 39 yards 22 seconds before halftime. The 56 combined points ties most points at half since 2010.

Rigoberto Sanchez made a 23-yard field goal and went 7-for-7 for PATs.

Stockstill brought the Blue Raiders within 10 twice. He threw a 10-yard TD to Dennis Andrews and a 13-yard score to Ty Lee.

The Warriors converted two crucial fourth downs—on a fake punt Makoa Camanse-Stevens threw a 21-yard pass to Ammon Barker and Brown connected with Kemp for 17 yards to Blue Raiders' 2.

The Warriors finished a 12 play, 75 yard drive as Unga caught his second touchdown of the game from 12 yards out from Brown to go up, 45-28.

Brown added the insurance score with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Collie.