Yet another one got away from the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team last night.

In what has become a frustrating pattern this season, the Rainbow Warriors came up short in a close game, this time in a 71-68 loss to New Mexico State.

A crowd of 4,188 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched Hawai'i drop to 14-11 overall and 5-7 in the Western Athletic Conference. Six of Hawai'i's losses this season have come by three points or fewer.

The Aggies are 19-6 overall and in second place in the WAC at 9-3. Hawai'i is in a tie for sixth place with four regular-season games remaining.

"Poor shot selection, poor decision-making on the floor," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace lamented. "Just a bad night for the 'Bows tonight."

The game was close throughout, but a stretch of Hawai'i turnovers late in the game allowed New Mexico State to take control.

Hawai'i had two chances to send the game into overtime in the closing seconds, but Bobby Nash missed a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left, and then Matt Lojeski's desperation 3 at the buzzer bounced off the rim.

"Not to take anything away from (the Aggies), but we feel like we lost this one," Lojeski said.

Nash added: "Coach Wallace said it perfectly — we beat ourselves ... it's just stupid errors. We turned the ball over too many times."

Ahmet Gueye led the 'Bows with 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, and eight rebounds, before fouling out in the final minute.

Lojeski added 15 points and seven rebounds, and played all 40 minutes with a strained arch in his right foot.

The 'Bows had a 59-54 lead with 5:36 remaining. But on its next three possessions, Hawai'i committed three turnovers. The Aggies recycled the turnovers into six points to take a 60-59 lead with 4:47 remaining.

Both teams committed 18 turnovers in the game, but New Mexico State turned Hawai'i's miscues into 25 points, while the 'Bows scored only 12 points off the Aggies' turnovers.

Lojeski tied the game at 64 on a 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining, but New Mexico State's Martin Iti responded with a layup and a dunk to put the Aggies up for good at 68-64 with 58.7 seconds remaining.

Iti, a 7-foot center, finished with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and eight rebounds. In two games against Hawai'i this season, Iti scored 29 points on 14-of-16 shooting, including nine dunks.

Shaun Davis, a 5-11 guard, contributed 14 points — all in the first half. Both Iti and Davis came off the bench last night.

"Our bench won the game for us by the way they came in and saved our starters," New Mexico State head coach Reggie Theus said.

Hawai'i raced to a 10-5 lead, prompting Theus to remove all five of his starters from the game.

"I wish I could have sent them back to Las Cruces," he said.

The 'Bows built the lead to 19-9 with 10:58 remaining, but the Aggies rallied behind Davis' 14 first-half points. New Mexico State eventually took a 33-31 lead at halftime.

"We would have been down 15 had (Davis) not come in and done that," Theus said.

Theus eventually brought his starters back in, and the game stayed close throughout the second half, with neither team ever leading by more than five.

Hawai'i shot 50 percent from the field, but only 21.1 percent (4 of 19) from 3-point range. Nash went 1 for 7 from 3-point range, and Matt Gibson was 0 for 4.

In Saturday's 74-50 victory over Louisiana Tech, Hawai'i made 12 3-pointers.

"Our mentality off the Louisiana Tech game was we made 12 3s, so we're going to come out and blow them out with 3s," Wallace said. "That's not our game."

Hawai'i's "big men" — Gueye, P.J. Owsley and Stephen Verwers — combined to shoot 12 of 15 from the field.

"When we worked the ball into our offense and grinded it out, we got what we wanted," Lojeski said. "We just lost focus. I think because they got us into an up-tempo game and into that run-and-gun kind of style."

Theus said: "I thought the game toward the end was about as furious and intense as I've seen for a long time. The only way to play against Hawai'i is to play harder than they do, and force them out of their offense."

NOTES

The 'Bows went direct from the Stan Sheriff Center to the airport after last night's game. They had an 11:20 p.m. flight for Salt Lake City. Hawai'i will play a road game at Utah State tomorrow.

The Honolulu Marathon presented a $15,000 check to the University of Hawai'i Foundation during last night's game. Russia's Lyubov Denisova — the 2006 Honolulu Marathon women's champion — helped present the check during a timeout.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.