The fans were there and hopeful. The lei were piled high. The band and dancers ready.

But on "Senior Night" for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team, it was an inside job that stole the show from the 'Bows.

The finger prints — all over the glass backboards and iron rim, mostly — belonged to another senior and bold intruder, Boise State forward Reggie Larry.

His double-double — 23 points and 10 rebounds — and three blocked shots lifted the Broncos to a 78-71 victory and into at least a share of their first Western Athletic Conference basketball title with one game remaining.

So while the 5,502 at the Stan Sheriff Center went about with the still-spirited senior festivities for seven departing 'Bows, the 22-7 (12-3 WAC) Broncos, the preseason pick to finish fifth in the conference, celebrated a milestone victory in a jubilant locker room. In inflicting a fourth consecutive loss upon the 11-16 (7-7) 'Bows, Boise State set a school record for road wins (11-3) and got its first win in Manoa (1-6).

"If there was one you wanted to get," Boise State coach Greg Graham put it, "this one was it."

Amazingly, the Broncos accomplished all of it without perhaps their best player and all-conference lock, 6-foot-9 center Matt Nelson, who was back in Boise in front of a television set with a foot injury.

"I wouldn't have thought we could do that before the game started but Reggie is a monster when he wants to play," Graham said.

And, last night he wanted to play ... and play.

Indeed, with 6-foot-6, 224-pound Larry hoisting the Broncos on his wide shoulders, Boise State dominated UH inside, 42 points to 26, out-rebounded Hawai'i 38-31 and had a 15-10 edge in second-chance points. Whenever UH made a run — and it put several together in threatening to knock off its second WAC first-place team of the season — Larry was there to be a determined difference maker.

"Coach told me he'd try to give me some minutes (off), but I told him no," Larry said. "This game meant a lot to us and I was going to do whatever I could. It was on my shoulders and I was going to play as hard as I could."

With Nelson text-messaging him before the game, Larry said, "I wanted to bring (his spirit) with me." With Nelson calling and reminding him that championship rings for the team — and a shot at player of the year — hung in the balance, "I tried to put two into one and play as hard as I could," Larry said.

If Larry had a weakness — and few were noticeable — it was that, at times, he tried a little too hard. His apparent dunk boomeranged in the second half and helped UH to crawl back from a 58-40 deficit to close to three.

But in the end, a bitter one to be sure, the 'Bows had no answer for Larry. And because they didn't, the exclamation point on the home season escaped them.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.