For the first 5 minutes and 18 seconds last night the University of Louisiana-Lafayette men's basketball team looked as though it couldn't have hit the broad side of Diamond Head with a shot.

The Ragin' Cajuns missed their first 11 shots, several of them badly, and trailed Hawai'i 6-0.

But was their head coach, Robert Lee, worried?

"Heck no," Lee maintained. "We've struggled all season to shoot the basketball. That's the way it has gone for us. To be down only that much, we knew we had a chance."

Sadly, he was right, which says as much about the University of Hawai'i as it did about the Ragin' Cajuns, whose meager 30.5 percent shooting percentage was enough to spring a 61-59 upset that plummeted the Rainbow Warriors into the embarrassment of the afternoon consolation round of the 44th Annual Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic.

Truth be told, the 'Bows earned their place in the 11 a.m. Friday game against St. John's, a 71-69 loser to Ohio, their first banishment to daytime hours in the tournament in 12 years.

They punched their own ticket there with 19 turnovers — 10 in the second half and 38.2 shooting of their own, just 13.3 percent from 3-point range.

Considering the opposition, home court and status as 11-point favorites it added up to UH's worst showing of a 3-5 start.

"We didn't deserve to win the way we played," head coach Bob Nash acknowledged to a postgame radio audience.

Indeed, instead of coming off a nine-day layoff, at times it looked more like a 19-day separation for the 'Bows, who sputtered badly down the stretch, missing shots and turning over the ball.

Louisiana-Lafayette might be, as Lee said, "one of the worst shooting (percentage-wise) teams in the nation," but they at least played a lick of defense that was enough, though just barely, to pull past the 'Bows. Nineteen UH turnovers were recycled into 25 points by the Ragin' Cajuns.

"Our defense has kept us in games," Lee said. "It has given us a chance these last two games" — both wins in a 3-6 start.

So while the partisans in a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,583 whooped and hollered at the Ragin' Cajuns' early shooting struggles sensing if not expecting a victory, Lee said he knew better. "This is the way all our games, except Tennessee, have gone."

When it was over and Louisiana-Lafayette had its once seemingly improbable victory secured, Lee was cheered by the Ragin' Cajun faithful in the stands as he made his way out of the locker room. "Piece of cake," said one.

To which, Lee looked up, nodded and smiled.

Sadly, the Ragin' Cajuns made it look almost that easy.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.

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