Six years of frustration against Hawaii ended for San Jose State last night. A disappointing start to the Western Athletic Conference season lives on for the Rainbow Warriors.

The Rainbows now stand eighth in the nine-team WAC after a demoralizing 73-61 loss to the Spartans before a crowd of 4,319 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Behind the slashing drives of point guard Justin Graham and timely 3-point shooting by the rest of the Spartans (8-8, 2-3 WAC), the visitors broke an 11-game losing streak against UH (9-8, 1-4) going back to 2003.

Graham scored a career-high 29 in a loss to the Rainbows last year as a freshman, and continued his success against UH with a season-high 19 points last night. He led the charge during a 19-3 run that broke open the game midway through the second half.

“;I thought Justin was the difference in the second half,”; said San Jose State coach George Nessman, who picked up his first win against UH in four years of coaching the Spartans. “;(UH) went a little cold shooting there in the second half, and we were able to crawl ahead and managed to hold on.”;

It is the first time San Jose State has won back-to-back conference road games since joining the WAC.

After a week of going through their offense against zone defenses in practice, the Rainbow Warriors enjoyed some success early but became hesitant and tentative against it as the game wore on. Forward Roderick Flemings scored 18 points and Bill Amis and Lasha Parghalava added 14 apiece.

“;We spent a lot of time working against the zone, and for us to not attack it better, I was disappointed,”; Hawaii coach Bob Nash said. “;But I was more disappointed with the defense.”;

The 6-foot-4 Graham abused Hawaii off the dribble to get inside all night.

“;I guess they just wanted it more,”; Flemings said. “;We just need to work on our help-side defense, when it comes on the back side.”;

Once UH went up 12-3 against San Jose State's man-to-man defense, the Rainbows were gradually stymied after Spartans switched to a 2-3 zone—a tactic used by several other opponents this season.

After trailing from the opening minutes of the game, the Spartans pulled within 39-37 on a 3-pointer by Mac Peterson with 12 minutes, 20 seconds left, and tied things up on a putback by Graham at 10:46.

Then San Jose State profited with a flurry of free throws—making seven of eight over the next 2 minutes—to go up 46-42. That included the first technical foul of Nash's coaching career immediately following Parghalava's 3-pointer that tied the game for the last time at 42.

“;It's one of those calls I questioned the referee,”; Nash said. “;I accept it.”;

Forward Tim Pierce returned from an injury to post 13 points for the Spartans, while guard Robert Owens matched Pierce's total. The two combined to go 4-for-5 on 3-pointers and had a hand in extending San Jose State's lead to double figures.

“;We gotta close the game. The second half was all them,”; Amis said. “;Shots didn't fall and to some extent, yeah I guess we lost our composure.”;

UH shot just 35.7 percent in the second half after a 54.5 percent effort in the first period. In comparison, San Jose State shot 10-for-17 in the second half (58.8 percent).

Hawaii was forced to foul with several minutes remaining, but the Spartans were solid at the stripe (28-for-36 for the game, 77.8 percent). UH never threatened again after cutting the deficit to 55-48 on Flemings' free throw with 5:32 left.

Pierce was a game-time decision with a sprained ankle but got the starting nod for the Spartans. San Jose State's leading scorer, Washington transfer Adrian Oliver, was also a possibility to play but ended up missing his third straight game with an injured knee.