Wolf Pack falls to Hawaii, 38-31

HONOLULU " Greg Alexander came off the bench to revive Hawaii's offense, which finally broke out of its second-half scoring woes.

The third-string quarterback threw a 24-yard touchdown to Malcolm Lane with 20 seconds left to lead Hawaii to a thrilling 38-31 victory over Nevada on Saturday night.

"We were just trying to get into field goal range," Alexander said. "We got in a position where we couldn't stop the clock, so we had to take a shot. It was either a completion or a field goal."

Alexander was one of three quarterbacks used by the Warriors (4-4, 3-2 Western Athletic Conference), who kept their postseason hopes alive and defeated the Wolf Pack for the sixth straight time at Aloha Stadium.

"This was a must win," Warriors coach Greg McMackin said. "Our goal is to go to the Hawaii Bowl and Nevada has that same goal."

McMackin said Alexander wasn't supposed to play in the game. But he got the call with the offense sputtering. Before Saturday night, Hawaii hadn't scored in the fourth quarter since the second week of the season.

Alexander, who hasn't played much since the starting the season opener at Florida, entered in the second half and was 17-of-22 for 205 yards and two touchdowns. He guided Hawaii on three scoring drives, including the game winner that ended up with Lane outjumping the defender in the end zone.

"I didn't want to go into overtime so I needed to make the play right there," Lane said. "It was a nice pass so I went up and got it."

The score capped a nine-play drive that started on the Hawaii 23 with 1:30 left in the game. On the drive, Alexander completed passes of 16 and 17 yards and rushed for 10 yards on third-and-9 from the Nevada 43.

The Wolf Pack (4-4, 2-2) were led by Colin Kaepernick, who threw for 173 yards and two fourth-quarter TDs. He also ran for 139 yards, including a 61-yard score early in the game.

Just when Hawaii tried to put the game away, Nevada scored 14 straight points and tied it 31-31 with 1:31 left on a 34-yard touchdown pass from a scrambling Kaepernick to Chris Wellington.

But the Wolf Pack weren't able to stop Alexander and force overtime.

"Any loss is disappointing, especially when you come back like we did," Nevada coach Chris Ault said. "We tie it up and all you got to do is hold them for whatever time it was."

Marko Mitchell made a leaping, one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 5 to cut Hawaii's lead to a touchdown with 10:29 remaining.

Nevada also got a strong performance from Vai Taua, who rushed 16 times for 160 yards.

The Warriors took their largest lead, 31-17, on a 16-yard touch pass from Alexander to a wide open Michael Washington to open the fourth quarter. Washington finished with five catches for 100 yards and two TDs.

David Farmer scored on a 9-yard TD run in the third that gave Hawaii a 24-17 lead and capped a 49-yard drive that was setup by a solid kickoff return by Lane, who finished with 178 all-purpose yards, including 63 yards receiving.

Hawaii went up 17-10 lead to open the second half on Dan Kelly's 41-yard field goal. The Wolf Pack tied the game 21 seconds later on a 79-yard run by Taua, who broke right, found a hole and followed his blockers along the sideline into the end zone.

Nevada had two costly fumbles in the first half, leading to 14 Hawaii points.

The Warriors gained possession when Taua bobbled the ball into the hands of Jameel Dowling. Hawaii converted the turnover into a 26-yard TD pass from Inoke Funaki to Washington to take a 14-7 lead.

Funaki and Tyler Graunke rotated every series at quarterback in the first quarter. Graunke was intercepted by James-Michael Johnson on his second pass attempt and didn't return after that. Funaki played one series in the second half.

"We felt Tyler, when he threw that pick, may not be ready yet and needs more reps," McMackin said. "The next guy on the list was Alexander, so we put him in."

The Warriors got on the scoreboard with their first defensive score of the season. David Veikune sacked and stripped Kaepernick and John Fonoti picked up the bouncing ball and returned it 9 yards for the score.

Kaepernick's 61-yard TD run tied the game 7-7. He burst through the middle, blew past the secondary and sprinted with his long legs the rest of the way for the TD.

The sophomore had 111 yards rushing in the first half on 12 carries.

Besides the rotating quarterbacks, Hawaii made a couple adjustments to its lineup.

Ryan Mouton made his first start at slotback instead of his usual cornerback position. Mouton had five catches for 58 yards.

Solomon Elimimian had a forced fumble and 10 tackles, becoming the most prolific tackler in Hawaii history. Elimimian, who has started for four seasons, entered the game just four tackles shy of breaking Levi Stanley's record of 366, set from 1969-72.