University of Hawai'i senior Aaron Bain used the same mentality he cultivated over years as a slotback in his new role as a punt returner in last night's 38-31 win over Nevada in a Western Athletic Conference game at Aloha Stadium.

"You just gotta want to make the play," Bain said. "Once you get the ball in your hands you have to keep telling yourself you want to make the play. I don't think there's much difference (mentally) between playing slotback and punt returner."

With Bain's first return of 12 yards, he surpassed Hawai'i's total yardage for the season. The Warriors averaged -0.3 yards per return — 12 returns for a total of minus four yards — before yesterday's game. He finished with three returns for a total of 25 yards.

"We worked on it a lot during the week, so we were scouting the punter and knew he always kicked to his right," Bain said. "I thought we did really well with the blocking and the whole scheme. The coaches made good calls on the returns and where to go with the ball.

"We got positive yardage so I'm happy."

Bain was replaced at slotback by Ryan Mouton, but said, "it was cool."

"We talked about it, everything was positive," Bain said. "I thought (Mouton) did really well. I thought the offense did really good trying to air out the football. They were moving the ball up the field and scoring on the majority of the drives so I thought we did really well."

RECORD FOR ELIMIMIAN

Senior linebacker Solomon Elimimian set the career mark for tackles when he took down Vai Taua during Nevada's third drive of the game.

"I didn't know which hit, they told me which hit it was," Elimimian said. "When the game is going, you don't think about records, you think about winning."

It was Elimimian's fourth tackle of the game, putting him past Levi Stanley's career record of 366 set from 1969 to 1972.

"It's icing on the cake," Elimimian said. "We came out here, we fought, we won. I wouldn't like to win any other way, and the tackling record just comes on top of that. If I got the record (in a loss Oct. 17) at Boise State, I probably wouldn't have been happy."

Elimimian finished last night with a team-high 10 tackles, giving him 373 career tackles.

"The record means a lot to me, not because of the game, or the season, but the last four years of my life and the memories I shared with the players and coaches who have been through here," Elimimian said.

FARMER HITS PAYDIRT

Hawai'i running back David Farmer's 9-yard rush into the end zone was his first rushing touchdown since 2006.

"The O-line blocked, that thing just opened up like the Red Sea," Farmer said. "I just happened to be in there. It probably could have been anybody else and they would have been in.

"I was definitely not going to make a move at the goal line."

Farmer played sparingly this season after suffering a partial tear in his MCL in his right knee during training camp.

"It was serious enough that it sidelined me,"said Farmer, who is used mostly as a blocking back, and rotates with running backs Kealoha Pilares, Daniel Libre and Leon Wright-Jackson.

Farmer's last rushing touchdown came against Utah State Nov. 4, 2006.

SILVA-PURCELL GETS START

Nevada sophomore linebacker Jared Silva-Purcell, a Saint Louis graduate out of Honolulu, started for the first time in his career.

He finished with two tackles.

COCKTAILS AT ALOHA

Former Rainbow baseball players Ryan Yamamoto and Scooter Martines have teamed up in another UH sport.

The two are in their second season of operating Turnstyles Sports Bar at the Aloha Stadium at the base of the circular walkway on the south end zone side. Their bar operates at all UH football games and other sporting events at the stadium, such as the Pro Bowl and Hawai'i Bowl.

The bar opens at 3 p.m. on game days, allowing fans to watch different college games or in yesterday's case, Game 3 of the World Series, on the four big-screen televisions centering the bar. The bar is even wired into the pay-per-view telecast of the UH game.

"We thought it would be a fun idea to have all these live games before the UH game starts," Yamamoto said.

Yamamoto said the bar gets crowded at halftime. Sometimes, customers don't even return to their seats and stay until the end of the UH game.

"Usually when it rains, we get a little more (people)" showing up, Yamamoto said.

Must've been busy last night.

SHORT SNAPS