It was a big loss in so many ways for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team last night.

The Rainbow Warriors dropped out of second place in the Western Athletic Conference by dropping their regular-season finale, 51-48, to Louisiana Tech.

A "White-Out" crowd of 7,978 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the 'Bows complete their regular season with a 17-10 overall record, including 10-6 in the WAC. The Bulldogs improved to 19-11 overall and 11-5 in the WAC.

Hawai'i finished tied for fourth and will be the No. 4 seed at this week's WAC Tournament at Reno, Nev. LaTech finished tied for second and will be the No. 3 seed.

"This one hurts," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "It was senior night. We had a great crowd. We just ran out of players."

Just hours before the game, it was announced that starting center Ahmet Gueye would miss the remainder of the season because of torn ligaments in his right knee.

That left the 'Bows with eight scholarship players, including only three "big men" — 7-foot Chris Botez, 6-9 Julian Sensley and 6-9 Matthew Gipson.

"It was tough not having Ahmet there," said Botez, who started in place of Gueye. "We needed another big body to battle with us."

LaTech superstar Paul Millsap took advantage of the depleted 'Bows. The 6-foot-8 forward had 20 points, 23 rebounds and five blocked shots.

"He was a monster in there," Wallace said. "We fought hard, we tried. But we just didn't have enough."

The proof was in the statistics. The 48 points was a season-low for Hawai'i, as was its 28.8 field goal percentage (15 of 52).

Most of the misses came in the second half, after the 'Bows played a spirited first half.

Hawai'i led 36-25 at intermission, but scored just 12 points in the second half. The 'Bows shot just 3 of 23 from the field (13 percent) in the second half, and had a frustrating stretch of 10 minutes, 18 seconds, without a point.

"Just couldn't hit a shot," Sensley said. "Just one of them days, unfortunately it had to be today."

Sensley finished with team-highs of 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in his final home game. But he shot 3 of 17 from the field, including 2 of 8 from 3-point range.

He was the only Hawai'i player to score in double-figures.

Despite the dismal second half, the 'Bows were in it until the closing seconds.

A 3-pointer by Sensley with 4.5 seconds remaining cut the Bulldogs' lead to 50-48. LaTech's Marcus Elliott then made one of two free throws with 3.5 seconds remaining for the final score.

A desperation shot by Sensley from beyond half-court was way off at the final horn.

"We just missed too many key shots, too many free throws, down the stretch," Sensley said. "You always want to go out with a win in your last game, and that's why we were fighting so hard. We just came up short."

If not for Millsap, the Bulldogs were not much better.

LaTech shot just 36.1 percent from the field, and won the game despite going 0 for 18 from 3-point range.

"There's a young man on my team that got 23 rebounds tonight, and that's probably a big reason (for the win)," LaTech head coach Keith Richard said. "It got to be where we shoot it, miss it, and Paul will get it back."

Hawai'i closed the first half with a 17-6 run to take its 36-25 lead at intermission.

Then came the collapse.

Deonte Tatum hit a driving layup with 17:52 remaining in the second half to give the 'Bows a 38-29 lead.

The Bulldogs then responded with a stunning 19-2 run to take a 48-40 lead with 3:28 remaining. The 'Bows missed 18 consecutive shots during one stage of the second half, and they were stuck on 40 points from the 13:41 mark until 3:23 was left in the game.

"We just couldn't put the ball in the basket," Tatum said. "They weren't doing anything special on us defensively."

Hawai'i scored six of its 12 second-half points in the final 44 seconds, but it was too little, too late.

Millsap made sure of it, blocking two UH shots in the closing minutes when the crowd was trying to cheer the 'Bows back in it.

"It came down to toughness and we had the toughness in the second half," Millsap said. "We were down 11 and our coach motivated us to play harder in the second half. I felt like my team needed me tonight and I think I came through."

In an effort to preserve energy and keep its big men out of foul trouble, Hawai'i played a 1-2-2 zone defense for most of the game.

"Our defense worked," Wallace said. "They didn't score much, either. We just couldn't get our offense going."

Hawai'i junior guard Matt Lojeski scored just five points, and he nearly joined the injured list when he took a hard fall midway through the second half. He said his lower back was still hurting after the game.

"It just wasn't our night," Lojeski said. "But as bad as we shot it, we still had a chance at the end. I think that shows what kind of team we are. We're not giving up."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.