Instead of freezing on its two-game road trip to the state of Idaho last week, the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team returned home yesterday with a heart-warming split.

"It's awesome," senior tri-captain Bobby Nash said. "I think we showed why we have Warriors on our chest. There's no quit in this team and we're going to fight until the end."

The Rainbow Warriors lost at Boise State, 95-80, on Thursday, then beat Idaho, 58-53, on Saturday.

The 95 scored by Boise State was the most allowed by Hawai'i this season; the 53 scored by Idaho was the fewest.

"We wanted to win two, but we got one, so you have to be satisfied with that," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said.

As a result of the split, the 'Bows are 8-11 overall and 4-3 in the Western Athletic Conference. Hawai'i is in fifth place in the nine-team WAC, but just 1 1/2 games behind first-place Utah State (5-1).

The 'Bows arrived in Boise on Monday, and were greeted by snow flurries and temperatures in single digits.

Boise State led the game from start to finish, but Bob Nash said the final few minutes of that loss were a key to success in the victory over Idaho two nights later.

Hawai'i trailed by as many as 31 at Boise State, but made a late charge in the closing minutes to make the score respectable.

"I think you can look at the end of the Boise game and see the character of this team," Bob Nash said. "We played until the final horn went off, no matter what the score was. It showed that this team still has to improve, but we're not going to give up against anybody under any circumstances."

The 'Bows then traveled to Moscow and were greeted by more snow and temperatures in the 20s.

Then, starting point guard Matt Gibson had to sit out a practice on Friday for disciplinary reasons.

He did not start the game against Idaho, but played 30 minutes and finished with a team-high 16 points. He also led the team with 26 points at Boise State.

"It's over ... it's done," Gibson said. "I just want to help this team win."

Gibson's driving layup with 2:23 remaining gave Hawai'i the lead for good against Idaho.

"We're a family and Matt's a part of this family like anybody else," Bobby Nash said. "There's going to be problems in every family. You just work through it and move on. That's what we did."

Senior tri-captain Riley Luettgerodt said after the victory over Idaho: "This was big. We could have given up after that game at Boise, but we came back and got a win. That makes this a successful trip."

The 'Bows spent almost a full day traveling back to Honolulu yesterday, including a four-hour delay due to snow in Spokane, Wash.

They will not have much time to recover. Hawai'i will host New Mexico State on Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Aggies are 11-11 overall and tied for second place in the WAC at 5-2. On Saturday, they routed first-place Utah State, 100-70.

That game was televised on ESPN2, so the 'Bows watched some of it before playing Idaho.

"We were watching it a little bit, and they looked good," Bobby Nash said. "But they have to come to Hawai'i now."

Bob Nash added: "New Mexico State is a very good team and they'll present some problems for us. But I think we showed that we're warriors and we're going to battle against anybody. The thing we have to focus on is we can't let any games get away from us at home, otherwise it negates what we did here (at Idaho)."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.