The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team didn't get the cupcake it wanted, but the Rainbow Warriors were hungry for any kind of a win, so last night's 79-67 victory over Coppin State will do.

A crowd of 3,737 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the 'Bows win their home opener, and rebound from a season-opening road loss at UNLV to improve to 1-1.

"We needed a win," Hawai'i sophomore point guard Dominic Waters said. "We needed to gain our confidence back."

Senior co-captains Matt Lojeski and Ahmet Gueye led the Hawai'i effort.

Lojeski, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard, scored a career-high 23 points, and passed for a career-high eight assists. He also filled the boxscore with seven rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal.

"I found a way to stay involved in the game, and still wasn't shooting well outside," Lojeski said. "But I was getting to the bucket; getting to the free-throw line."

Most of Lojeski's points came off drives to the basket. He shot 9 of 13 overall — 1 of 5 from 3-point range, and 8 of 8 from close range.

"Lojeski, another hard working night," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "He's been doing it at both ends of the floor."

Gueye, a 6-8 forward, scored 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, and blocked three shots. He has recorded double-doubles in both games this season.

Gueye has played 72 out of a possible 80 minutes in Hawai'i's two games this season with a brace on his right knee.

"When I'm out there, I don't worry about it," said Gueye, who had knee surgery in March.

Reserves Waters and Riley Luettgerodt also scored career-highs with 12 points each.

Junior center Stephen Verwers added seven rebounds, and junior forward P.J. Owsley came off the bench to score seven points and grab four rebounds.

After shooting 33.3 percent in the 73-59 loss at UNLV last Friday, the 'Bows shot 55.4 percent last night against Coppin State's zone defense.

Hawai'i utilized its height advantage by scoring 40 points "in the paint," and out-rebounding the Eagles 40-28. The 'Bows started five players 6-5 and taller; the Eagles did not have any players taller than 6-7.

"When you get down there (in the paint), you're used to 7-footers, but their tallest guy was about as tall as I was," Lojeski said. "We wanted to get the ball inside, get the ball down low."

Hawai'i never trailed in the game, but could never separate from Coppin State.

"We got 40 points in the paint tonight, which is good for our offense," Wallace said. "But we still haven't got our shooters going."

The 'Bows passed for 26 assists (out of 31 field goals), but also committed 20 turnovers.

The game was close in the early minutes, but Hawai'i went on a 15-2 run to take a 28-13 lead with 7:22 remaining in the first half. The 'Bows hit four 3-pointers during the surge — two by Waters, and one each by Lojeski and Luettgerodt.

Coppin State never got closer than eight after that, and the 'Bows took a 36-23 lead at intermission.

The 'Bows increased the lead to as many as 21 in the second half, but the Eagles refused to let it become a rout.

"That's the one disappointment — I wanted to get everybody some playing time," Wallace said.

Coppin State shot 50 percent from the field in the second half, including 66.7 percent from 3-point range (6 of 9).

"We just have to get better defensively," Wallace said. "Point-of-ball defense and rotation has to get better."

Coppin State head coach Ron Mitchell said: "We ran into a tough team today. We can't beat anybody giving up 55 percent shooting percentage."

Still, it was a significant improvement over Coppin State's season-opening 94-43 loss at Virginia Tech last Friday.

"A lot better effort on our part compared to what we did the other day," Mitchell said.

Tywain McKee, a 6-foot-2 junior guard, shot 7 of 12 from the field and led the Eagles with 22 points.

McKee's performance prompted Wallace to keep starting point guard Matt Gibson on the bench for most of the game. Gibson, who scored 20 in the loss at UNLV, went scoreless but had four assists in 11 minutes last night.

"Matt just didn't play defense," Wallace said, but added that Gibson and Waters will continue to split time at the point guard position.

Coppin State, which is based in Baltimore, Md., and is a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, has now lost 28 consecutive non-conference games.

"We played down to our opponent," Lojeski said. "I'm not saying they're a bad team, but we should be putting them out in the first half or beginning of the second half."

The 'Bows will not have much time to improve. Their next game is Sunday against Oregon State at the Stan Sheriff Center.

For Coppin State, yesterday was the latest in a brutal stretch of non-conference road games. The Eagles' next game is Sunday at Tennessee. They also have upcoming road games at Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama, Connecticut and Ohio State.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.