Dragan Elkaz hit seven 3s and finished with 25 points to lead the UC Riverside to a 75-71 men’s basketball victory over Hawaii today in the SRC Arena.

The Rainbow Warriors, who defeated Cal State Northridge in Thursday’s front end of a two-game road trip, were seeking to open 3-0 in the Big West for the third time in seven years of league membership. Instead, the ’Bows had difficulty covering the Highlanders’ inside-outside game.

“Teammates got me open,” Elkaz said in an ESPN3 postgame interview.

The Highlanders, under first-year head coach David Patrick, improved to 7-13 and 1-3 in the Big West. The ’Bows fell to 11-6 and 2-1.

The ’Bows closed to 70-68 on Jack Purchase’s jumper with 2:05 to play. But Dikymbe Martin a jumper, and the ’Bows could not get closer after that.