Refusing to let another game be decided in the final seconds, the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team took its frustrations out on Louisiana Tech in a 74-50 rout last night.

The Rainbow Warriors ended a frustrating streak of six close losses to the Bulldogs, a streak that dated to 2004.

"I wasn't about to take the (starters) out at the end because I wanted to make sure we did get it," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "It doesn't make up for the six losses, but it sure feels good tonight."

A crowd of 4,484 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched Hawai'i improve to 14-10 overall and 5-6 in the Western Athletic Conference.

LaTech dropped to 7-17 and 5-7. The teams swapped places in the WAC standings — Hawai'i moving up to sixth, and LaTech dropping to seventh.

"We played a full game — finished it, started it," Hawai'i point guard Matt Gibson said. "Our defense and our shooters were working well. We were being real unselfish on offense and working hard on D."

Bobby Nash led the balanced Hawai'i attack with 18 points and eight rebounds.

The Hawai'i point guards — Gibson and Dominic Waters — were points guards, scoring 16 each, and leading a season-best performance for 3-pointers.

The 'Bows made a season-high 12 3-pointers, including 5-of-6 shooting by Gibson, and 4-of-4 from Waters.

"I knew I had to hit," Gibson said. "I had six turnovers. I had to find a way to contribute."

Hawai'i shot 53.2 percent from the field as a team, including 60 percent from 3-point range.

LaTech head coach Keith Richard said: "We have to give a lot of credit to Hawai'i. They shot the ball extremely well, whether we were in zone or man (defenses), whether they were wide open or contested."

Perhaps more impressive than the shooting was Hawai'i's defense. The Bulldogs shot a season-low 28.8 percent from the field, including a dismal 23.7 percent in the second half.

In a 70-67 victory over Hawai'i last month at Ruston, La., the Bulldogs shot 44.6 percent from the field.

"We didn't have the defense that we're playing now, where everybody's helping," Nash said. "If you get scored on, it's not you personally, it's everybody."

Wallace said: "I thought our defense tonight was the best it's been all year, other than the rebounding."

LaTech out-rebounded Hawai'i, 42-31. The Bulldogs also grabbed 26 offensive rebounds, the most by a Hawai'i opponent this season. But the Bulldogs missed numerous putback attempts from close range.

"We missed a ton of layups," Richard said. "The truth of the matter is I don't know if it was Hawai'i's defense or not because we've been bad offensively on the road all year. And tonight was no exception."

LaTech dropped to 2-14 on the road this season. Hawai'i improved to 11-2 at home.

The Hawai'i victory came while its two senior co-captains — Matt Lojeski and Ahmet Gueye — played limited minutes.

Lojeski finished with eight points and four assists in a season-low 22 minutes because of a strained arch in his right foot.

"Conditioning hurt him more than the foot," Wallace said. "That's why I wanted to keep him rested."

Gueye scored five points and grabbed nine rebounds in 25 minutes. He played just seven minutes in the second half.

"When your two top guns go down, you have to be like Iceman and pick them up," Nash said.

Hawai'i led virtually from start to finish, and turned it into a rout midway through the second half.

LaTech got as close as 27-26 with 4:15 remaining in the first half, but the 'Bows responded with a 13-2 run to take a 40-28 advantage at intermission.

"I'm disappointed in our team in that we got away from our game plan, which was to try to control the tempo and not move it up and down," Richard said.

During LaTech's six-game winning streak over Hawai'i, the Bulldogs won by an average of 2.2 points per game.

An alley-oop dunk by P.J. Owsley off a pass from Waters ignited a 14-0 run that gave Hawai'i an insurmountable 69-43 lead with 5:53 remaining.

Trey McDowell finished with 18 points to lead LaTech.

The Hawai'i coaches wore white sneakers during last night's game as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer awareness program.

The 'Bows will continue WAC play tomorrow, when they host New Mexico State.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.