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HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team dropped its fourth straight contest with an 82-63 loss to a red-hot Idaho squad Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. With the loss the Rainbow Warriors dropped to 15-14 overall and 6-7 in the Western Athletic Conference.
 
UH now sits in a tie for fifth place in the WAC standings with Louisiana Tech. The Rainbow Warriors could still finish as high as fourth with a win in the conference finale against Utah State on Saturday. The Vandals (17-12, 8-5 WAC), meanwhile, remained in third place in the WAC standings with their sixth win in their last seven contests. It was also the Vandals fourth win in their last five visits to Honolulu.
 
The Vandals shot absolutely lights out, building it lead to as many 20 points. The Rainbow Warriors mounted a pair of spirited comebacks, but were turned back each time by the Vandals, who shot 51 percent from the game and out-rebounded the 'Bows, 46-27.
 
UH committed a season-low seven turnovers but couldn't overcome the huge rebounding deficit as well as its second-worst shooting performance of the season (34.9 percent). UH also converted on just 12-of-21 free throws.
 
Zane Johnson led UH with 18 points, including 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc. With his fourth and final three-pointer of the night at the 13-minute mark, Johnson set a new UH career record for three-pointers made (179), surpassing former All-American Predrag Savovic. Joston Thomas added 16 points, while Jeremiah Ostrowski handed out nine assists.
 
Deremy Geiger finished with a game-high 20 points for Idaho and buried four of the team's 10 three-pointers on the evening.
 
The Vandals were hot from the get-go, hitting 14 of their first 18 shots before eventually building a 45-27 halftime advantage. The Vandals built its lead to 20 points after the first possession of the second half but a re-energized Rainbow Warrior squad surged back and cut the deficit by more than half with 11 unanswered points.
 
A Johnson's three-pointer made it a 52-43 game less than five minutes into the half, but the Vandals responded with eight unanswered points. UH again would mount another run as a Vander Joaquim free throw cut the deficit to 10 points with a little less than seven minutes left. However, that would be as close as it would get as UH failed to score a field goal in the final seven minutes, save for a pair of buckets in the final 27 seconds with the result in hand.
 
The 'Bows will host its home finale on Saturday, March 3 when it takes on Utah State in the Rainbow Warriors last regular. Seniors Johnson and Ostrowski will be honored following the conclusion of the game.