Sometimes, the hare can beat the tortoise.

In this case, a quick start — and sluggish finish — was enough for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team to hold off Chicago State, 85-75, last night.

The Rainbow Warriors led by as many as 24 points in the first half, but had to hold off a late rally by the Cougars.

A crowd of 3,131 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the 'Bows improve to 5-3 with their fifth consecutive home victory. Chicago State dropped to 3-6.

"Happy with the win; wasn't very pleased with some of our mental deficiencies in the second half," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said. "I thought we tried to ride our lead to a victory (when) we wanted to try to extend the lead."

Still, the 'Bows established several season-bests last night, including points scored, rebounds (45), assists (23) and fewest turnovers (nine).

Hawai'i center Petras Balocka had team-highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds, and also passed for six assists.

"I was just trying to do what ever helps the team to win," he said.

Roderick Flemings, who was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week earlier in the day, had 20 points and seven rebounds.

Bill Amis added 14 points and seven rebounds, and Adhar Mayen and Lasha Parghalava contributed nine points each.

In its last two games, Hawai'i has passed for 41 assists while committing just 21 turnovers.

"The guys are trusting each other a lot better," Nash said. "We work on it every single day in practice — try to get guys where they need to be when they need to be there."

Hawai'i starting point guard Kareem Nitoto had seven points on 1-of-6 shooting, but received praise from Nash for his eight assists.

"Everybody was where they were supposed to be," Nitoto said. "We ran to our spots, got into our offense quicker than normal."

What's more, Nitoto was primarily responsible for defending Chicago State sharpshooter David Holston, who entered the game ranked second in the nation in scoring at 26.9 points per game.

Holston was limited to seven points in the decisive first half, but still finished with a game-high 28.

"I thought (Nitoto) did an awesome job in the first half; I thought he sucked in the second half," Nash said with a laugh.

The 'Bows raced to a 9-0 lead to open the game, increased the advantage to as many as 24 points, and eventually took a 44-22 lead at intermission.

Chicago State's slow start was partly due to a few tardy players.

Guard John Cantrell and forward Tawrence Walton were not in the starting lineup because they were late for the team bus prior to the game.

"We had to go with a crazy lineup that we never used before and I think that hurt us in the beginning," Chicago State head coach Benjy Taylor said. "But I'm trying to build a program, and I can't let things like that slide, even though it wasn't anything major."

Taylor said the missing starters contributed to Holston's slow start — he shot 1 of 8 from the field in the first half.

"We didn't have anybody else scoring, so David had to try and shoot everything," Taylor said. "When we got our normal lineup in there, you could see what big of a difference it made."

Indeed, the Cougars opened the second half with an 8-2 run, highlighted by two spectacular alley-oop dunks by Cantrell.

Hawai'i was able to push the lead back up to 54-32 with 15:56 remaining, but the Cougars cut it to nine late in the game behind the shooting of Holston and Cantrell.

A 3-pointer by Balocka with 1:18 remaining put the 'Bows back up by double-digits to seal the win.

Holston, who entered the game ranked first in the nation in 3-pointers per game at 5.1, made six 3s last night (in 16 attempts).

"The kid's a great shooter," Nash said. "He lived up to his billing ... I thought Kareem (Nitoto), from top to bottom, did a very credible job on him."

Cantrell added 24 points and seven rebounds, and Walton contributed seven points and five rebounds.

Hawai'i finished the game with a .468 field-goal percentage, and out-rebounded the Cougars 45-41. Chicago State finished with a .418 field-goal percentage — .233 in the first half, and .568 in the second half.

The 'Bows improved to 4-1 in Monday night games this season, including 4-0 in the Sheriff Center.

Hawai'i's next game is scheduled for Dec. 23 against UC Riverside at the Sheriff Center.