Come Christmas time expect malls to be busy, downtown Honolulu to be lit up and University of Hawai'i receiver Jason Rivers to go off in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

Rivers, a junior receiver, tied a school record with 14 receptions and set a school and all-time bowl mark with 308 receiving yards as Hawai'i beat Arizona State, 41-24, last night in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl at Aloha Stadium.

The previous bowl record for receiving yards was 299 by Fresno State's Rodney Wright against Michigan State in the 2001 Silicon Valley Bowl.

Rivers, who caught two touchdown passes, was primarily matched up on the left side with Sun Devils senior defensive back Keno Walter-White.

"I'm not ever going to doubt myself in any football game. Who ever is across from me I'm going to make sure I do my best to get him," said Rivers, a Saint Louis School alum.

Hawai'i quarterback Colt Brennan, who was named the game's co-MVP with Rivers, saw the matchup and repeatedly exploited it.

"J-Riv is a big-play receiver," said Brennan, a junior who completed 33 of 42 passes for 559 yards and five touchdowns. "He's probably the most physical receiver we have. When you're playing a team like Arizona State, they have very good athletes and they manned up. When you have a very tough receiver like J-Riv, who can get off guys and push corners around and out-physical corners, he's a key target and the guy you should go to."

Rivers put the icing on the cake by hauling in a pass from Brennan on a slant pattern and sprinting 79 yards for a touchdown with 2:01 remaining. In the second half, Rivers had 10 receptions for 251 yards.

"That was the nail in the coffin, and it felt good to put the game out of reach," said Rivers, who is 6 foot 2 and 192 pounds.

Brennan added: "He showed some breakaway speed, so hats off to J-Riv. Three-hundred yards is unbelievable."

In the 2003 (Houston) and 2004 (Alabama-Birmingham) Sheraton Hawai'i Bowls, Rivers had a combined 18 catches for 291 yards and four touchdowns.

"I don't know what the thing with that is," Rivers said. "I don't even know how to explain it. I've taken a change in my life, walking with God and that's why all this happened."

Early in the second half, Rivers caught a screen pass from Brennan, but fumbled the ball. Warriors offensive tackle Dane Uperesa fell on the football, and on the next play, Rivers ran down the left sideline and Brennan hit him for a 38-yard scoring strike to make it 10-10.

"I'm angry when ever I fumble the ball," Rivers said. "I can't remember a fumble that I lost. It felt good to redeem myself."

The touchdown got Hawai'i going as it had two more scoring passes in the third quarter to take a 24-10 lead.

"You just have to weather the storm and keep it going," Brennan said. "There were some unfortunate things that happened and we knew we'd get some breaks in the second half if we just plugged away. And once we scored, the butterflies and the pressure was gone and we kept it going."

Even the personnel on the other sideline was impressed with Rivers, who had 58 catches for 870 yards and eight touchdowns entering yesterday.

"I think (Colt) is a good quarterback, but I was more impressed watching the wide receiver. He gets open, makes plays and makes guys miss," Sun Devils quarterback Rudy Carpenter said.

Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter added: "I asked June (Jones, the Hawai'i coach) where he's been hiding No. 84. We knew about the other receivers but he was spectacular."

In the first half, the Warriors moved the ball, but it was pretty much between the 20-yard lines.

The Warriors ran 28 plays for 208 yards, but their farthest penetration was to the Sun Devils' 25.

The Warriors' only points came on a 42-yard field goal by Daniel Kelly with 12:35 left before halftime, which made it 3-3.

"We pretty much shot ourselves in the foot, making stupid mistakes on short routes, stuff like that," Rivers said. "We just concentrated on what we had to do. It wasn't what they were doing. It was what we were doing."

In the second half, Hawai'i ran 41 plays for 472 yards.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.