The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team started "finals week" by passing against Long Beach State.

The Rainbow Warriors reached season-highs in assists and steals to defeat the 49ers, 61-57, last night.

A crowd of 3,240 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched Hawai'i improve to 3-4. Long Beach State dropped to 2-6, including 0-5 on the road.

"It was a passing grade," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said of his team's performance. "We got credit. We passed. That's all we wanted to do."

The 'Bows displayed their passing ability with 23 assists. Hawai'i made 25 field goals, meaning 92 percent came off passes from teammates.

"Any time our guys can share the ball that way, that's a big bonus for us," Nash said.

The sharing was also displayed in the points column.

Riley Luettgerodt led Hawai'i with 13 points and eight rebounds. Matt Gibson added 12 points and five assists. Bobby Nash contributed 11 points and five assists. Bill Amis scored nine, and Jared Dillinger had nine points and four assists.

Dillinger also collected four of Hawai'i's season-high 15 steals.

"I'm real proud of the way our team played good, solid man-to-man defense tonight," Bob Nash said. "There were pockets where we played as good a defense as we played all year long."

But the 49ers were also in a giving mood, committing 24 turnovers. The Long Beach State miscues led directly to 30 points for the 'Bows.

"My biggest concern was taking care of the ball against the pressure and not giving (Hawai'i) second chances," Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson said. "We obviously failed in both those areas."

Hawai'i led by as many as 16 points midway through the second half, but the 49ers rallied to make it close at the end.

The closing minutes featured mistakes from both teams, and neither team scored in the final 2:05.

Hawai'i's last points came with 3:26 remaining.

"That could be fatigue, that could be whatever, but we just didn't put the ball in the hole late in the game," Bobby Nash said. "But then again, we relied on our defense to carry us home.

"Sometimes, you have to win ugly, but it's still a win at the end of the night."

Trailing 61-57, Long Beach State went 0 for 5 in the final two minutes of the game.

"Inexperience and fatigue were big at the end," Monson said, noting that he used just seven players for most of the game.

The game was close early, but the 'Bows broke ahead with a 12-0 run that gave them a 29-16 lead with 5:53 remaining in the first half. Hawai'i eventually took a 36-30 lead at intermission.

The 'Bows increased their lead to 54-38 with 9:08 remaining in the second half, but Long Beach State chipped away behind the shooting of Donovan Morris.

Morris, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, scored a game-high 24 points and played the entire 40 minutes.

As a freshman at Fresno State in 2005, Morris scored 21 and 20 points in two games against the 'Bows.

"Morris had another great game against Hawai'i," Bob Nash said. "But any time we can shut down the rest of the team is to our advantage."

No other 49er reached double-figure points.

Brian Freeman, a 6-10 junior center, had nine points on 3-of-3 shooting, and grabbed five rebounds for the 49ers. Freeman, who entered the game averaging 10.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, did not attempt any shots in the second half.

"With Freeman, he got some early points," Bob Nash said. "But once we locked in on him with P.J. (Owsley) and Stephen (Verwers), I thought they did a good job being physical with him and pushing him further away from the basket."

Freeman was heavily recruited by both Hawai'i and Long Beach State.

Long Beach State, which does not have any seniors on its roster, played without starting point guard Artis Gant, who was not in uniform because of a knee injury. He was averaging 8.3 points and 2.3 assists per game.

"We don't have a lot of margin for error, and we used it all up today," Monson said.

The undersized and undermanned 49ers used a 2-3 zone defense for most of the game, and that made the Hawai'i offense more patient and efficient.

"We got the ball inside and then we looked for the outside shots instead of the other way around," Bob Nash said. "We made the extra pass in the zone."

The 'Bows now have nine days to finish their academic exams and prepare for the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic, which is scheduled for Dec. 19 to 22.

Yesterday was a mandatory return game from last season, when Hawai'i won at Long Beach State, 93-78.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.