Leave it to guard Matt Lojeski to underline the "classic" in the 43rd Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic last night.

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team did.

With the No. 21 on the front of his jersey looking more like a big "S" with every swish of an arching jump shot and each falling fadeaway basket, Lojeski gave the Rainbow Warriors a Superman-like, 33-point effort, snatching both momentum and the championship trophy from stunned Creighton University, 76-60.

In a tournament that has been a display case for Pete Maravich, Elvin Hayes, Dennis Scott, Bob Nash ... over the years, Lojeski joined the honor roll even before the Stan Sheriff crowd of 4,978 began chanting "M-V-P ... M-V-P ... M-V-P" when he stepped to the free throw line in the final 18 seconds.

By then the MVP trophy was a foregone conclusion, awarded by acclimation in what had been a head-to-head battle between Lojeski and his Bluejays counterpart Nate Funk (25 points).

The championship trophy that left UH last year seemed bound for Omaha, home of the Bluejays, this time until Lojeski began crafting the performance of his two-year 'Bow career.

Beyond the points, there would be six rebounds, four assists and while playing stifling defense, even a moment when his hand clapping started a round of cheers in the arena. In short, Lojeski was anywhere and everywhere the 'Bows needed him to be in a baseline-to-baseline 40-minute effort that defined their eighth and biggest win of the season.

"That's what it took," marveled UH coach Riley Wallace afterward.

Indeed, Creighton had a seven-point lead, a man at the free throw line and the momentum early in the second half. Everything, it would turn out, but an answer for Lojeski who made good on 12 of 15 shots (5 of 6 from 3-point range and all four free throws).

"I thought we were in pretty good shape there 38-31," a still-disbelieving Creighton coach Dana Altman would say afterward. "We got the ball inside, missed a couple of free throws and he started going and we couldn't stop him and that was really the turn in the game."

Lojeski scored 13 of the 'Bows' next 14 points en route to a 45-39 lead, stirring the crowd and, more important, lighting a fire under his teammates.

And the 'Bows, to a man, fed off his fire. Ahmet Gueye firing in 15-foot jump shots. P.J. Owsley making clutch free throws and Matt Gibson contributing assists and defense.

"Without a doubt (Lojeski was the spark," Altman said. "We had to pay a lot of attention to him to get him stopped and we just couldn't do it. They were the pressure team down the stretch and we just wore out at the end."

The victims of a classic effort by Lojeski, the likes of which the 'Bows haven't seen in some time.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.