The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team showed — on national television — that it wants to be a victorious host of the inaugural Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

The Rainbow Warriors defeated College of Charleston, 84-71, on the opening night of the three-day tournament yesterday.

"We didn't just show up to be in the tournament," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said. "We want to win it, obviously. And you can't win it if you don't win the first game."

A crowd of 4,567 at the Stan Sheriff Center — and potentially thousands more via ESPNU — watched the Rainbow Warriors improve to 6-4 with their fourth consecutive victory.

The 'Bows will play UNLV in a semifinal game today at 6:30 p.m. UNLV is ranked No. 20 in the coaches top 25 poll.

"It's a great honor to have the opportunity to play the No. 20 team in the country," Nash said. "We have to be more poised in our effort and knock down shots when they come."

Last night, Hawai'i knocked down most of its shots, using a balanced and efficient offensive attack to defeat the Cougars.

Petras Balocka had 19 points, 13 rebounds and six assists to lead the 'Bows in all three categories.

"I just played my game, pretty much," Balocka said. "Sometimes I made good plays, sometimes I made turnovers ... I don't know, just a crazy game."

Balocka also committed seven of the team's season-high 21 turnovers.

"That's how I feel, a little crazy," Balocka said. "Glad we won the game, but it was a lot of ups and downs, turnovers. One of those games I'm just glad we ended up winning."

Hiram Thompson added 15 points, six rebounds and five assists.

"We knew they were going to come out and press and we handled it well in the first half, then they changed it up and rattled us a little bit," Thompson said. "But we did what we needed to do to win."

Dwain Williams scored 11, and Roderick Flemings, Adhar Mayen and Paul Campbell contributed nine points each for Hawai'i.

The 'Bows shot a season-high 60.4 percent from the field.

They hit the Cougars from both inside and out. Hawai'i finished with seven dunks, including a highlight-reel alley-oop slam by Flemings. The 'Bows also went 5 of 7 from 3-point range for a .714 percentage. Williams led the way, going 3 of 4 from long range.

"I think our guys did a nice job of understanding the importance of the game, the importance of preparation," Nash said.

It was Hawai'i's first game since Dec. 12, and for the first time this season, all 13 active players on the roster were prepared for action.

"This is one of the few times we had all the guys in the gym at the same time, working on the offense at the same time," Nash said. "And it showed because our efficiency level was up, our passes were crisp."

The 'Bows were especially effective early in the game. They raced to a 9-2 lead to open the game, and stayed in control for the entire first half.

Hawai'i led by as many as 19 points in the first half, and eventually took a 39-27 advantage at intermission.

"I thought for that first 15 minutes, they moved the ball, they shared the basketball, they played as a team," Nash said. "That's what you want."

Hawai'i shot 62.5 percent from the field in the first half, including 80 percent (4 of 5) from 3-point range.

The Cougars shot just 34.4 percent in the first half, but took some momentum into halftime with a 9-2 run in the final 2:19 of the half.

The 'Bows increased their lead to 52-31 with 15:13 remaining in the second half, then held off a late charge by the Cougars.

CofC used a full-court press to cut the Hawai'i lead from 21 to eight points several times in the closing minutes, but never got any closer.

"This is a tough environment to play in," CofC head coach Bobby Cremins said. "We did not play well to start the game, but we hung in there."

Andrew Goudelock scored a game-high 29 points for the Cougars, who dropped to 5-5.

Goudelock shot 12 of 29 from the field, including 2 of 9 from 3-point range.

As a team, the Cougars shot just 37.3 percent from the field, including 25.9 percent from 3-point range.

Hawai'i also had significant margins in rebounding and free throws. The 'Bows out-rebounded the Cougars 43-24, and went 21 of 31 on free throws to CofC's 8 of 12.

Hawai'i will get another chance to play on national television tonight, as the game will be on ESPN2.

The Cougars will play SMU in a consolation game today at 9 p.m.