On a seldom-used wing and a prayerful catch, Hawai'i willed itself to a pulsating 38-31 football victory over Nevada last night at Aloha Stadium.

What remained of a rain-drenched crowd of 33,020 watched wideout Malcolm Lane soar for the decisive 24-yard scoring pass from Greg Alexander with 20 seconds remaining.

"I just wanted to end it right there," Lane said of the catch that broke a 31-all tie. "The team had worked too hard. They didn't deserve to go into overtime. The team was tired. Luckily, the coach called my name."

Two names, in fact, were called. Alexander, who received only a minimal amount of snaps in the past week's closed-to-the-public practices, was summoned in place of woozy Inoke Funaki.

"Hey, whatever works," UH offensive coordinator Ron Lee said. "Inoke was seeing stars. He might have got his bell rung again. ... We tried Greg Alexander. For the amount of reps he got, he competes. It wasn't pretty, but we got what we needed."

The Warriors improved to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the Western Athletic Conference. With five games remaining, they need to win at least three to finish with a winning regular season and earn the accompanying berth in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

The Wolf Pack, who fell to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the WAC, had tied the score on two fourth-quarter touchdowns — Colin Kaepernick's 5-yard pass to Marko Mitchell and, with 1:31 to play, a 34-yarder to Chris Wellington.

The Warriors' final possession started at their 23.

Alexander, who was not scheduled to play, opened the drive with a 16-yard pass to Ryan Mouton, who had moved from defensive back specifically for this game.

"The route kind of broke down," said Mouton, who also played nickelback on defense, and finished with five catches for 54 yards. "I saw Greg kind of scrambling. I tried to help him out."

Two plays later, Michael Washington, who lost his job as punt returner and received a reduced role as slotback, made an impressive grab off a down-an-out pattern for a 17-yard gain.

The Warriors advanced to the Wolf Pack 30, setting the way for a potential field-goal attempt by Dan "Iceman" Kelly. But on second down, an offensive lineman moved before the snap, and the Warriors were deducted 5 yards.

While the Warriors assessed their predicament, the play clock was near expiration, and they were forced to use their final timeout with 31 seconds left.

"We knew we had two shots," Lee said.

The first was an 11-yard completion to Lane, who ran across the right sideline, which intersected the 24-yard line, to stop the clock.

Facing a third-and-1, the Warriors had two choices: 1) Call a running play, then summon Kelly; 2) go for the touchdown.

UH head coach Greg McMackin, in consultation with Lee and quarterback coach Nick Rolovich, decided to go "all in."

"Yep. Why not, man?" McMackin said. "I'm a defensive guy. Let's get it on. Everybody throws it against me. Why can't I throw it against somebody else? Let's go to score."

But he also hedged his bet.

"We figured if it was incomplete, we'd rush guys on (for the field goal)," McMackin said.

Lee called a play in which Lane would run an 80-z choice route. Lane had the option of a comeback route, a post or a streak.

"He had all kinds of choices," said Craig Stutzmann, who coaches the UH receivers. "He went on a streak."

Alexander, who had the option of going to wideout Greg Salas on the back side, opted to go with his first choice: Lane.

"It was either complete it or throw it out of bounds," Alexander said. "You can't spike it. There was no time. We had no timeouts. I think it was a safe play."

Thing is, Alexander did not have any tutorial sessions to work on it. The past week, Funaki and Tyler Graunke, who had not played in the previous three games, split reps with the No. 1 offense. Graunke was the quarterback for two drives last night, both in driving rain. His second possession ended with an interception.

"I got a lot of mental reps watching Inoke," said Alexander, who finished 17 of 22 for 205 yards and two touchdowns. "When you get in there, you can't think about it. The o-line did a hell of a job. I had a lot of time to throw, and guys made some big catches."

Lane had wanted to run a streak pattern several times in the game. But too often, cornerback Mike Evans would force Lane inside.

This time, Lane pushed past Evans' jam and raced along the right sideline into the end zone.

"It didn't come down to executing routes," Lane said "It came down to who wanted the ball more. I wanted it more than he did."

Lane made the catch, safely in bounds.

"(Lane) worked hard this whole week," Stutzmann said. "When you work that hard, good things happen. I feel so proud of him right now. Greg threw it up to him and let him make a play. What a great play. Everybody did a great job."

Indeed, the outcome was four practices in the making. McMackin promised to make changes to the offensive schemes and personnel after the Warriors' 27-7 loss to Boise State in the previous game.

Mouton was brought over from the defense, a quarterback platoon was established, and it was hinted that Lane and Washington were facing diminished playing time.

Lane responded with his best week of practice, and Washington had his best game of the season. He caught scoring passes of 26 yards from Funaki and 16 yards from Alexander — the latter extending the Warriors' lead to 31-17 with 14:54 to play.

"I haven't been playing to my capabilities," Lane said. "I had to step it up. It was my time to lay it on the line for my teammates. They've been doing that for me. It was my time to step it up for them."

That commitment proved to be contagious.

Running back David Farmer, cleared by two ferocious blocks, scored on a 9-yard run. Center John Estes made the initial block on the middle linebacker who had replaced a defensive tackle. Left guard Laupepa Letuli finished the job.

"I want to thank them," Farmer said.

The defense also came through. Defensive end David Veikune forced Kaepernick to fumble. UH's other defensive end, John Fonoti, raced over from the right side, scooped up the football and ran 9 yards for his first touchdown.

"I was thinking of jumping on it, but when I saw Brashton (Satele) and David Veikune (occupying offensive players), I picked it up and ran," Fonoti said.

And Mouton made two big third-down plays as a nickelback. His blitzes forced Kaepernick from the pocket and into short scrambles.

"I'm exhausted right now," Mouton said after the game. "We talk about having that will to win. Coach (McMackin) asked me if I could got on offense and defense. I had to keep pushing. I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for all of the guys in the locker room. They want to win. I want to win just as much as they do."