Seemingly everything about the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team was late the past two days.

Late return home. Late-arriving defense. Late rally.

In the end, it was too little, too late for the Rainbow Warriors in a 76-70 loss to UC Irvine last night.

"It was all on us," Hawai'i guard Kareem Nitoto said. "We just came out and laid an egg out here. It really hurts to come out here and disappoint ourselves and our fans."

A crowd of 4,169 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Rainbow Warriors drop to 13-13. The game did not count in the Western Athletic Conference.

UCI, which is currently the seventh-place team in the Big West Conference, improved to 10-17.

The 'Bows cut a 20-point deficit in the second half to one, but could never catch the Anteaters. Hawai'i trailed 65-63 in the final minute, but UCI went 9-of-9 on free throws after that to secure the win.

"I thought we played two halves," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said. "First half, we did not play the type of basketball that we have been playing throughout the season. Second half, I thought we stepped back up and played the kind of basketball we're capable of, but the holes were too deep for us to dig ourselves out of it."

Nitoto led the 'Bows with 18 points, including 16 in the second half. Bill Amis added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Roderick Flemings and Adhar Mayen scored 12 each.

It was not enough to counter a UCI attack that was lethal from the 3-point and free-throw lines.

The Anteaters went 9-of-18 from 3-point range, including 8-of-13 in the first half. They also went 19-of-21 on free throws.

UCI head coach Pat Douglass said his plan was to run his smaller guards around the Hawai'i defense in search of open spots.

"We knew we had to because they're so much bigger than us," Douglass said. "We had to make them chase us."

It worked wonders early. After Hawai'i took a 5-3 lead in the opening minutes, the Anteaters drained six consecutive 3-pointers on their next six possessions to take a 21-10 lead.

UCI eventually took a 38-24 lead at halftime.

"We knew what they were going to do, it's just that we didn't get all the way out there to prevent the shots," Nash said.

Hawai'i barely had time to prepare for the UCI attack.

The 'Bows won a road game at Fresno State on Thursday night, and arrived in Honolulu late Friday afternoon.

The Anteaters arrived in Honolulu on Thursday night.

"That's a long flight for us, a long flight for them," UCI forward Chad DeCasas said. "I just think we were well-rested, and having that extra day definitely helped."

It appeared to help DeCasas. He hit three 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 19 points. He entered the game averaging 2.7 points per game.

"The one thing I knew they could do was shoot the basketball," Nash said. "But we let the unknown guy come off the bench that's averaging 2 points get 19 on us tonight. You can't give up those kind of points."

UCI pushed the lead to 48-28 with 12:57 remaining in the second half before the 'Bows rallied.

Mayen hit two 3-pointers to ignite a 16-4 Hawai'i run that cut the UCI lead to 52-44 with 8:23 remaining. It was the first 3-pointers made by any Hawai'i player in the last three games.

An 8-0 run by the 'Bows cut the UCI lead to 54-52 with 5:13 left, and it stayed close the rest of the way. The closest Hawai'i got was 61-60 with 1:59 remaining, but the Anteaters pushed it to 65-60, then sealed it with free throws.

"If we could have just got the lead, I believe we could have held on to it," Nitoto said. "But we just didn't get it."

Nitoto added that the 'Bows may have taken the Anteaters lightly.

"I feel like we didn't respect out opponent tonight," he said. "And when you don't respect your opponent, they just jump up and hit you in the mouth, just like they did today."

The 'Bows played without key reserve center Petras Balocka, who has a groin injury.

The 'Bows are scheduled to depart Honolulu again on Tuesday for a two-game WAC road trip. They will play at Utah State on Thursday and at San Jose State on Saturday.