LAS VEGAS — This city is 2,015 feet above sea level.

With 36 seconds remaining in last night's game, Nevada-Las Vegas wideout Phillip Payne's hands were 10 feet higher.

Blanketed by 5-foot-9 cornerback Tank Hopkins, the 6-foot-3 Payne cut to the corner of the end zone. Payne then soared to grab the decisive 15-yard pass and boost UNLV to a 34-33 football victory over Hawai'i at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"Everybody says we're a basketball school," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said, smiling. "We took a few things from basketball. We threw it high, and we told (Payne) to go up and get it."

The Rebels (2-1) failed to convert the ensuing two-point play — an effort that become moot when the Warriors' frenetic final drive ended when a desperation half-the-field pass by quarterback Greg Alexander fell incomplete in the end zone.

"The clock struck 'zero,' and they had one more point than we did," Alexander said.

A few hours later, the Warriors were on the 2 a.m. flight back to Honolulu. They split the two-game, 11-night trip and are 2-1 overall.

"No excuses," UH defensive end Jake Heun said. "The scoreboard shows what happened. This was preseason stuff going into the (Western Athletic Conference) season. We're going to use this (loss) as a driving force."

On the winning play, the Warriors were in a cover-8 defense in which four defensive backs are assigned to a fourth of the field's width. This zone coverage is effective in defending seam routes — which had pestered the Warriors the entire second half — but vulnerable to isolation plays.

By sending Payne to the corner, Hopkins was left alone to guard a player with a 6-inch height advantage.

"They went with a sort of alley-oop deal," UH head coach Greg McMackin said. "What can you do?"

Hopkins was mum after emerging from the locker room.

"Sorry, but I don't want to talk right now," he said, his voice trailing into a whisper.

"It shouldn't have come to this, anyway," UH right slotback Kealoha Pilares said. "We had a lot of opportunities. We should have been killing these guys from the start, but we gave them too much leeway."

The Warriors missed assignments and tackles.

They dropped two sure interceptions, including one that slipped from strong safety Spencer Smith's grasp on the Rebels' final drive.

"I don't want to make excuses," Smith said of the pass that ricocheted off the hands of UNLV wideout Ryan Wolfe. "I won't make the mistake the next time. (The interception) would have sealed the deal, but I didn't do it."

The Warriors' offense drew praise from McMackin.

Alexander completed 31 of 48 passes for three touchdowns and a career-best 477 yards.

Wideout Rodney Bradley, who caught eight passes for 189 yards, and slotback Greg Salas, who made six grabs for 104 yards, combined for three touchdowns.

And Pilares conquered stomach-flu-like symptoms to make 13 catches for 146 yards.

"I woke up in the middle of the night, and my stomach was really sore," said Pilares, who downed Peptol Bismol and received IVs before the game and at halftime.

"The trainers did a good job helping me," he said.

Still, the offense was not flawless. Two passes to Salas were deflected in the end zone, stalling the Warriors' opening drive at the UNLV 2. The Warriors settled for Scott Enos' 20-yard field goal.

Alexander also twice overthrew Bradley, who had dashed past the defensive secondary.

"I was probably opening too wide (on the throwing motion) and swinging it," Alexander said. "I'll get that fixed."

Quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich, who called the offensive plays for the second consecutive game, lamented the ones that got away.

"We left too many points on the field in the first half," Rolovich said. "It really shouldn't have been that close at halftime (when UH led 20-14). We did a lot of good things."

Among them were Salas' 54-yard scoring play, an improvisational act spurred by Alexander's scramble, and Bradley's 39-yard touchdown on a post route.

But the Warriors missed a field goal when they were forced to hurry after allowing the play clock to drain.

And they weren't able to sustain drives to shorten the time the defense spent on the field.

"Coulda, shoulda," McMackin said.

The Warriors believed they needed to build a lead to ease the burden on an undermanned defense. Injuries sidelined defensive ends Fetaiagogo Fonoti (hyper-extended left kneecap) and Paipai Falemalu (high sprain of the right ankle).

Defensive ends are key against the Rebels' four-wide offense, which utilizes the perimeter on run-option plays or quarterback rollouts.

McMackin and his defensive coaches went to the lab this week, creating a hybrid scheme. The Warriors, whose base defense is a 4-3, replaced a defensive lineman with a nickelback (Aaron Brown or Richard Torres).

In this scheme, defensive tackle Vaughn Meatoga rotated between being a nose guard and a defensive end. In another twist, strongside linebacker Blaze Soares was utilized as a freelancer. Often, Soares played down lineman, out of a stand-up stance, aligned between Meatoga and a defensive end.

"I was trying to make plays," Soares said.

McMackin said: "We played a lot of 3-4, which we don't always do, but we're sort of in that situation, which is no excuse."

UH's new scheme used a nickelback to track quarterback Omar Clayton. With the defensive linemen playing the two-technique — sliding into a gap to occupy two blockers — it freed the linebackers to swoop in for tackles.

The plan is predicated on putting pressure on Clayton, but the junior quarterback proved to be too elusive.

"I thought O.C. (Clayton) got the ball off real quick," McMackin said. "We blitzed him a bunch, but we couldn't get to him."

Last week, Clayton suffered a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He was able to practice, and when his knee did not swell, he was named the starter.

Clayton, who scored on an 11-yard burst up the middle, creates problems when he is on the move. When a linebacker joined the chase, it vacated the middle. Clayton repeatedly completed passes in the middle. Wolfe had nine catches for 130 yards.

And when the Warriors clogged the middle, that left Payne to face single coverage.

"I think we got out-executed," McMackin said.

McMackin remained hopeful after the game.

"None of our goals that we have as a team is any different now except, obviously, we don't have any chance for a BCS game," he said. "We probably didn't, anyway. But we can still win the WAC and we can still go to a bowl game."