In a game of naughty and nice, the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team lost to Georgia, 67-59, in the 44th annual Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic yesterday.

The Rainbow Warriors fell behind in the first half without starting point guard Matt Gibson, who was suspended for disciplinary reasons. They then rallied with him in the second half to cut a 21-point deficit down to five in the closing minutes.

Ultimately, the 'Bows were left gift-less during a forgettable week.

Hawai'i went 0-3 in the eight-team tournament to drop to 3-7 overall. It was the seventh time in the 44-year history of the Classic that Hawai'i finished in last place, and the first time it happened since 1995.

A crowd of 1,722 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched yesterday's 11 a.m. game.

Georgia improved to 7-3 and finished in seventh place.

"We showed that we're resilient to the end, and that we're going to compete and we're going to fight," senior tri-captain Bobby Nash said. "That second half, it was a totally different ball club."

Head coach Bob Nash said Gibson was suspended for the first half because: "We have a certain standard in our locker room that we have to adhere to, and that standard was broken."

Hawai'i outscored the Bulldogs, 40-30, in the second half. Gibson played all 20 minutes of the second half and finished with a game-high 16 points.

"When you see your team down, you gotta find a way to make something happen," said Gibson, who is also a tri-captain. "You gotta find a way to bring energy to the game. I've always done that. So I did what I know best — that's bring energy to the game."

Without Gibson, the 'Bows struggled in the first half against Georgia's aggressive man-to-man defense.

The Bulldogs went on a 21-5 run over an eight-minute span to take a 27-13 lead. Hawai'i committed seven turnovers during that stretch.

"We knew they didn't have true ball handlers," Georgia point guard Sundiata Gaines said. "We wanted to pressure them and keep them out of scoring range."

Georgia eventually took a 37-19 lead at intermission. Hawai'i committed 14 turnovers in the first half and shot just 28.6 percent (6 of 21) from the field.

"I was awfully proud of our defense," Georgia head coach Dennis Felton said. "It's our style to be disruptive, and try to put a lot of pressure on you and not let you do the things that you practice every day. And we were exceptional with that in the first half."

But Felton acknowledged that Gibson's absence played a role.

"I thought it aided us that (Gibson) did not play in the first half," he said. "I'm sure that knocked Hawai'i for a little bit of a loop, not to have their normal general and ball handler and organizer out there."

Gaines finished with a team-high 15 points, and had four of the Bulldogs' 13 steals. However, all of his points and three of his steals came in the first half.

"(Gibson) definitely changed things for them," Gaines said. "He's aggressive. He plays hard. He pretty much gave them all their will power to come back in the game."

Georgia jumped to a 43-22 lead early in the second half, then held off the Hawai'i rally.

Gibson (16) and Nash (10) combined to score 26 of Hawai'i's 40 points in the second half.

Gibson said he was not sure what his role would be yesterday, only that he would not start.

"You can be mad about it (or) you can accept it," he said. "There's two ways to go every time something like that happens. All I could do is accept it and come out and play. There was still a half to play."

The 'Bows cut the Georgia lead to 60-55 on a 3-pointer by Nash with 46.5 seconds remaining. But the Bulldogs went 5 of 8 from the free-throw line in the final 34 seconds to secure the victory.

Georgia shot 58.3 percent from the field in the first half, but 33.3 percent in the second half, and 45.1 percent for the game.

"The defensive effort was, I think, the best that we've had to date in terms of guys getting out and guarding — disrupting their offense," Bob Nash said.

Bobby Nash finished with 14 points and made two 3-pointers to snap a streak of misses. He was 0 for 9 from 3-point range in his previous two games.

The 'Bows went 4 for 16 from 3-point range yesterday, and 8 for 48 (16.7 percent) in the three games of the tournament.

Hawai'i's three losses in the Rainbow Classic were by a total of 16 points.

Bob Nash said Gibson should be back in the starting lineup when the 'Bows play again on Thursday against New Mexico.

"It's over. It's done. We move forward," Nash said.

Gibson said: "It's my fault. I feel bad about it, and hopefully we can move on."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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