Box Score

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow Warrior basketball team battled Utah State toe-to-toe for the full 40 minutes, before falling, 73-70, in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at the Pan American Center. It was an excruciatingly familiar ending for the `Bows (18-13), who dropped their seventh WAC game this year in the waning seconds, while also falling in the conference quarterfinals for the fourth straight year.

Jaycee Carroll, the WAC's top-scorer, finished with a game-high 24 points to lead the No. 4 seed Aggies (22-10) into Friday's semifinals, where they will meet top-seeded and 10th-ranked Nevada.

With the loss, UH clings to an outside chance at a berth in the 32-team National Invitation Tournament. Otherwise, the game marked the final of the season and the last in a storied career for head coach Riley Wallace. Wallace, who was honored by the WAC in a pre-game ceremony, made his final appearance in the conference tournament and finishes his coaching career second in overall (333), WAC (165) and WAC tournament wins (20), behind legendary UTEP coach Don Haskins.

"I was very pleased with the effort my team gave tonight," Wallace said. "All year this team didn't give up and they didn't today. They've overachieved and played a lot better than people believed."

UH lost despite monster efforts by outgoing senior Matt Lojeski and junior Bobby Nash. Nash tied his career-high with 22 points, while Lojeski finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and a game-high six assists.

Both players played critical roles,all the way through the final seconds. Trailing by two, Nash missed a three-pointer in the corner with 10 seconds left. After Carroll made one of two free throws, the 'Bows retained possession in their own backcourt with 2.2 second left. That allowed for one final play, but Lojeski's 22-footer from the right wing at the buzzer was also off the mark.

The teams played even for most of the game, before the Aggies finally pulled away. The score was deadlocked, 36-36, at the half, and Utah State took an eight-point lead, the biggest lead by either team, seven minutes into the second half. UH, however, stormed back and took its first lead of the half, 58-57, on Dominic Waters' three-pointer at the 6:50 mark. The Aggies, however, would not relinquish control as Paul Spicer's bucket with five minutes broke a 59-59 tie and Utah State would not trail again.

UH shot just 30 percent in the second half and got just seven points from its starting frontcourt of Ahmet Gueye and P.J. Owsley.

"Ahmet and P.J. didn't have their feet today," Wallace said. "We got nothing from our inside and it was all perimeter. We didn't get to the foul line and that's what they did."

-UH-