In a feel-good game for the holidays, the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team defeated Creighton, 76-60, last night to win the 43rd annual Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic.

Matt Lojeski found some Christmas magic, scoring a career-high 33 points and earning the tournament's Most Valuable Player award.

"It was just my night, everything was dropping," said Lojeski, a 6-foot-6 senior guard. "It was kind of crazy — an unbelievable feeling. It was unreal, kind of, how everything was dropping."

A raucous crowd of 4,978 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Rainbow Warriors win the Rainbow Classic for the 11th time, including five of the last six.

The 'Bows broke open a close game midway through the second half behind the uncanny shooting of Lojeski. He scored 21 in the second half, including 13 during a stunning stretch of 3 minutes, 30 seconds, that gave Hawai'i the lead for good.

Lojeski connected on 12 of 15 shots from the field, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range, and 4 of 4 on free throws. He scored 74 points in Hawai'i's three victories in the Classic.

"That has to be one of the really big-time performances of all-time for a Hawai'i guy to shoot like that and come out with 33 points in a big ballgame against a very good team," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said.

Ahmet Gueye added 19 points and eight rebounds, and was named to the All-Tournament team for the second consecutive year. Led by Gueye, the 'Bows out-rebounded the Bluejays, 37-28.

Matt Gibson contributed six points, eight rebounds and five assists, and P.J. Owsley had six points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots.

"It's a great feeling to be on top of everything right now," Gibson said.

The final margin was 16 points, but the momentum went back and forth until midway through the second half.

Creighton went on a 10-0 run midway through the first half to take a 24-18 lead.

Hawai'i responded with an 8-0 surge to regain the lead at 31-28 with 47.6 seconds remaining in the half. The 'Bows took a 31-30 advantage at intermission.

"They keep telling us this stat about not losing (the game) when we're ahead at halftime, so we were fighting to try and get ahead," Gibson said.

Sure enough, the 'Bows are now 8-0 this season when leading at intermission.

Lojeski led Hawai'i in the first half with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. Creighton guard Nate Funk matched him, scoring 12 points to lead the Bluejays in the first half.

Creighton opened the second half by scoring eight consecutive points, including five by Funk, to take a 38-31 lead.

"I thought we were in good shape there, 38-31," Creighton head coach Dana Altman said. "And (Lojeski) started going and just got it going and we couldn't stop him."

Lojeski scored 13 points — including 3-of-3 shooting from 3-point range — during an 14-1 run over a span of 3 minutes, 30 seconds to put the 'Bows back on top at 45-39 with 13:09 remaining.

Creighton got as close as 59-55 with 5:21 remaining, but Hawai'i pulled away in the closing minutes with Gueye and Lojeski leading the charge.

"They were the fresher team down the stretch, and I didn't use my bench very effectively," Altman said. "We wore out at the end."

Gibson said of the senior co-captains Gueye and Lojeski: "These guys can be modest all they want, but these two seniors, our captains, really stepped up. They took us to the championship and they deserve every bit of praise. These two stepped up in clutch situations."

The 'Bows also did it with defense, limiting the Bluejays to a 33.9 field-goal percentage while blocking eight shots. Also important of note, Hawai'i committed a season-low 11 turnovers against Creighton's full-court zone defense.

Funk led the Bluejays with 25 points, and Dane Watts added 12.

The 'Bows played without sophomore Dominic Waters, who was not in uniform because of a bruised thigh. He sustained the injury in Friday's victory over Nebraska. Waters is Hawai'i's top reserve guard.

Hawai'i will play another non-conference home game on Thursday against Tennessee-Martin. The Western Athletic Conference season starts on Jan. 4.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.