New season, new faces ... same old University of Hawai'i men's basketball team?

At first glance — and that's what this season opener pretty much was — it unfortunately looked that way for at least one night.

Picking up where they left off last season, the Rainbow Warriors saw another close one slip slide away, this time 75-70 to the University of San Francisco in the regular-season debut.

The opening night of the Verizon Wireless Tip-off Classic was a dropped call for the 'Bows.

It was, at the end, shades of 2007-08, an 11-19 season the 'Bows closed with seven consecutive losses. Most of them close. Plenty of them maddening.

And so it was for a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,414 and, you suspect, head coach Bob Nash, who did plenty of pacing to the endline in this one.

Even with nine new faces and only one returning starter, this one played out with remarkable — and spooky — familiarity for a team trying to turn over a new leaf.

It was a game the 'Bows led from the first basket and into the second half. But one in which they were unable to pull away from despite the Dons' top two players, Dior Lowhorn and Manny Quezada, stuck on the bench in early foul trouble and scoring a combined three points.

Then, UH also saw the opposition take — and hold — a lead when it mattered in the second half. UH was 2-16 last year when it trailed with 5 minutes remaining in regulation, a trend UH was unable to break despite ample openings to do otherwise.

But many of the same breakdowns that plagued the 'Bows last year in prime time reared their head again. Errant passes. Poor shots. An inability to get the offense flowing. You name it.

Moreover, UH never really seemed to get its marquee newcomer, Roderick Flemings, into the offense. Seven of his 13 points came off free throws and he suffered through 3-of-11 field-goal shooting, including a 21-foot attempt with 6 seconds remaining that would not fall.

Ball handling miscues against the Dons' press resulted in 18 turnovers. The struggle in the backcourt began so early that Nash was forced to inject Hiram Thompson, who had been battling a debilitating hamstring injury, into the game. But Thompson was so slowed by it that the experiment was abandoned after two minutes.

Nor did the bench — and Nash employed 10 players — contribute any points to the effort.

Instead, it was the Dons, five-point underdogs, whose up-and-down past 12 months has included three head coaches, that managed to pull this one out.

The hopeful news is that it is a young season for UH with plenty of opportunities, beginning with Cal State Fullerton tomorrow night, to dump the old script and write a better one.

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