ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The cold caught up to the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team last night.

With temperatures below zero outside the Sullivan Arena, and a delayed start inside, the Rainbow Warriors never thawed out in a 72-56 loss to California in a semifinal game of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout.

A crowd of around 4,000 in the arena, and a national television audience on ESPN2 watched the 'Bows drop to 3-2. The Golden Bears improved to 4-1.

"We came out and looked like we were running in mud," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "We didn't show up. Mentally and physically, we weren't ready to play."

The 'Bows will not have much time to recover. They will play Pacific for third place today at 5 p.m. (Hawai'i time). The game will be broadcast live on 1080 AM.

Cal opened last night's game with a 16-4 lead, and the 'Bows could never catch up.

Ahmet Gueye led Hawai'i with 14 points and six rebounds, but he was no match for Cal's power combination of 6-foot-10 Ryan Anderson and 6-11 DeVon Hardin. Anderson had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Hardin added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Hawai'i's top trio of shooters — Matt Lojeski, Bobby Nash and Matt Gibson — combined for just 15 points on 6-of-21 shooting. On Thursday, they combined for 43 points in a victory over Hofstra.

"I personally felt tired," Lojeski said. "I don't know why. My shot felt good, to be honest. It just wasn't falling."

Lojeski finished with a season-low seven points on 3-of-10 shooting, but he did pass for a career-high 10 assists.

Nash contributed three points on 1-of-6 shooting, and Gibson scored five on 2-of-5 shooting.

"It's the first time this season that Lojeski was a no-show, energy wise," Wallace said. "He's been carrying us. But both he and Bobby looked very slow tonight."

Part of it was because Cal was just as big as the 'Bows, and quicker.

The Bears grabbed 37 rebounds to Hawai'i's 31, marking the first time this season that Hawai'i lost the battle of the boards. Cal switched between man-to-man and zone defenses throughout the game, and Hawai'i responded by shooting 40.7 percent from the field (Cal shot 45 percent).

"I thought we did a good job getting out to the shooters," Cal head coach Ben Braun said. "Defensively, I thought we did a good job early in the game, and I thought we were able to maintain that defensive intensity throughout most of the game."

Hawai'i's only lead of the game came early at 4-2. The Bears responded with a 14-2 run to move ahead to stay.

The Bears increased the lead to as many as 17 points in the first half before taking a 37-24 advantage at intermission.

Hawai'i shot just 35.5 percent from the field (11 of 31) in the first half, while Cal shot 53.6 percent (15 of 28).

Lojeski, who was averaging 18.3 points per game prior to last night, was held scoreless in the first half on 0-of-3 shooting.

"He's a good player and you have to go after good players," Braun said of Lojeski. "You can't let them have big games."

The Bears increased the lead to 51-35 with 13:37 remaining in the second half, but Hawai'i chipped away behind reserves Dominic Waters and Todd Follmer.

Waters and Follmer combined to score eight points during a 14-5 surge that cut the Cal lead to 56-49 with 8:03 remaining.

"That's my job," Waters said. "I'm supposed to come in and get things stabilized."

But that was as close as it would get as the Bears responded with a 14-2 run to pull away.

Waters and Follmer scored 10 points each for the 'Bows. Waters left the game briefly with a bruised hip, but returned later.

The game started around 45 minutes late because the previous semifinal went into double overtime (Loyola Marymount beat Pacific, 88-85).

"There's no excuse about sitting in the locker room because Cal had to do the same thing," Wallace said.

Wallace said he thought the rare ESPN appearance for the 'Bows may have unnerved some of the players.

"I think guys play for TV, especially the new guys that haven't been there," he said. "They want to play for their family and friends, and it puts some pressure."

In any case, the 'Bows can still leave Alaska with a winning record after today's game.

"We didn't play well tonight, but we have to get up for Pacific," Lojeski said. "If we can come out of this with third place, that's still a pretty good tournament."

Cal will play Loyola Marymount for the championship at 8 p.m.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.