HONOLULU — Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich had this Hawaii Bowl all figured out, except for the details.

He told his players there would be times when beating BYU seemed out of reach, but he wanted them to expect to win the game in the fourth quarter. And that’s what happened Saturday in Aloha Stadium, a 38-34 victory for their first victory over the Cougars since 2001.

Rolovich just couldn’t have scripted how it would happen.

Hawaii scored 31 points by halftime against a BYU defense that had given up more than 30 points in a game once this year, on the road against Washington. The Warriors were blanked so badly in the second half they didn’t even get into the red zone until their final possession.

And then, Cole McDonald took them 71 yards in three plays, capping off a magnificent Christmas Eve with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Nick Mardner with 1:17 remaining.

Khoury Bethley grabbed his second interception of the game — and the season — to stop BYU’s last chance and give Hawaii only its sixth 10-win season in school history and the first since 2010.

“It sure wasn’t looking that good,” Rolovich said. “To get a 10-win season by beating BYU, it’s hard to write anything better.”

McDonald finished with 493 yards passing and four touchdowns, taking him over 4,000 yards for the season. He constantly burned the BYU secondary with the deep ball, and he was at his best at the end.

BYU (7-6) took its only lead on a 20-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.