ASSOCIATED PRESS Alabama receiver Keith Brown tried to get around Hawaii's Leonard Peters after a fourth-quarter reception yesterday.

Tide handle Hawaii

The Warriors hang around until the final play of the game before falling short in Tuscaloosa

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. » That first 30 minutes of football Hawaii stumbled through last night in its season opener at Alabama was nothing new.

And recent history shows that at a tough road site it's usually more of the same after halftime, leading to an embarrassing final score against a brand-name foe or WAC contender. At USC in 2003, Boise State and Fresno State in 2004, and Michigan State last year come to mind.

This time it was different.

Very much so, as the Warriors almost gave the Tide something to really be Crimson about before 92,138 at the breaking in of newly refurbished Bryant-Denny Stadium.

This time the Warriors fought back, down to the final second and the final play. But Lionel Mitchell intercepted Colt Brennan's pass at the Alabama goal line to preserve the Tide's 25-17 win.

UH was a 17-point underdog, and played like it most of the first two quarters. But then the Warriors (who beat Alabama at Aloha Stadium three years ago) proved they are far from a typical BCS nonconference season-opening cupcake -- at least they are this year.

"A year ago, I don't think we had the camaraderie or team cohesion to fight in the second half," said Brennan, who passed for 350 yards and two touchdowns, both late in the game. "You have to take the positive and you have to look at the negatives. I think the negatives were pretty blatant, but the positive is that we fought with a great football team."

The Warriors' woes in the first half were many. Two dropped passes by the usually dependable and often spectacular Davone Bess. A mishandled snap by punter Kurt Milne leading to a safety. A fumble by Nate Ilaoa that turned into three Tide points when Leigh Tiffin hit a 31-yarder, one of his three field goals.

"The fumbles really hurt us and the dropped punt," Jones said.

The Warriors were just fortunate the mistakes didn't cost them more.

"We weren't ourselves in the first half," Jones said. "You could tell we were nervous and stumbling."

Dan Kelly made a 42-yarder when Hawaii's opening drive stalled after Brennan started the game with four straight completions. That was all UH would score until late in the third quarter.

Four minutes into the second half, Alabama led 22-3 when Keith Brown scored on a 35-yard pass from J.P. Wilson.

Wilson, in his first start, was expected to spend most of the game handing off to star running back Kenneth Darby. But Wilson piled up 253 yards on 16-for-29 passing, including six catches by Brown for 132 yards.

"My number was called tonight," said Brown, who had a bigger role with fellow receiver D.J. Hall out due to a suspension. "I had to step up and make plays."

Darby was limited to 25 yards on 16 rushes. One of his backups, Jimmy Johns, led the Tide with 58 yards, and Alabama rushed for 125 total.

"We were a little off with the running game," Alabama coach Mike Shula said. "That's something we'll get corrected."

The Tide managed just 22 yards on 14 carries after halftime.

"We went to some fresh people and made some minor adjustments," UH defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville said. "We changed very little, just a couple of little tweaks."

Inside linebacker Adam Leonard, making his first start, was in on a game-high 11 tackles, including the only sack of Wilson.

UH finally reached the end zone on a 16-yard shovel pass to Reagan Mauia from Brennan, then a 31-yarder on a fade route to Ryan Grice-Mullins, with 7:04 left.

That accounted for the final score and put the Warriors back in the game.

"We saw that they played a lot of man-free, really pretty much the whole game," Grice-Mullins said. "So Coach said just go for it right here, and just beat him off the line and get to the corner."

Grice-Mullins caught six passes for 109 yards -- all but one for 11 yards in the second half.

Hawaii's defense -- which many predicted would wilt under the pressure of Alabama's running game -- stiffened and forced the Tide to punt twice in crucial fourth-quarter situations.

The first set up the 85-yard drive that culminated in Grice-Mullins' touchdown, and the second -- preceded by Leonard's sack of Wilson -- gave UH the ball at its own 35 with 2:52 left and a chance to tie it with a touchdown and 2-point conversion.

The Warriors, using a series of short passes and an 8-yard scramble by Brennan, drove to the Alabama 26 with 13 seconds remaining.

But the last three passes were high for Bess, incomplete to Jason Rivers in the end zone, and then into the hands of Mitchell.

"We were just trying to take a shot," Brennan said.

It was a long shot, the final pass, with five Alabama defenders at the goal line.

It was a long shot, taking on the Crimson Tide at Tuscaloosa.

But fewer mistakes in the first half, and Hawaii could be celebrating today instead of thinking about what might have been.

"It was like everything was there for us and we couldn't do the little things," Brennan said.

The Warriors have a bye this week before their Sept. 16 home opener against UNLV.