Phew.

After trailing by 13 at halftime to its Division II neighbor, Hawaii surged from behind on Chaminade in the final 5 minutes to capture a 70-61 win last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Roderick Flemings scored all of his 18 points in the second half and the Rainbow Warriors (4-4) overcame a listless first half to even their record. Hiram Thompson added 17 points and eight rebounds and Adhar Mayen scored 12. Flemings grabbed 10 rebounds.

Besides the “;W,”; bragging rights were on the line in this rare regular-season matchup between the schools separated by less than a mile. The Silverswords (1-4) strolled down the street with swagger and were unintimidated by the crowd of 2,314 after taking on Maryland, Vanderbilt and Colorado in the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

Hawaii's swell feelings after a 96-point outing against Lamar a few days prior evaporated quickly as the Rainbows came out listless, while Chaminade bombed away from deep in hitting nine first-half 3-pointers. Making things worse, UH forward Petras Balocka, the 'Bows' best rebounder, was out with a jammed ankle and much of UH's advantage in the post went with him.

“;I don't know if we were all there (at the start),”; Hawaii coach Bob Nash said. “;I don't think we were as inspired as we wanted them coming out of the locker room. You have to give credit to Chaminade ... they were shooting the ball extremely well. When a team is on fire, you just gotta cut into that lead as much as you can.”;

UH went small with a three-guard alignment coming out of halftime to counter Chaminade's speed and range. After shooting 9-for-19 on 3-pointers in the first half, Chaminade went just 1-for-14 in the second. But CUH still traded baskets with Hawaii and led 57-49 with 6 minutes, 50 seconds to play.

Then Rainbows guard Dwain Williams helped cut off some of the probing drives of Chaminade's Steven Bennett, and CUH missed four key free throws and was assessed a costly technical foul in the final minutes. The 'Swords wilted as UH closed out the game on a 21-4 run.

Emotions ran high down the stretch. With 53 seconds to play and UH up 65-61, Thompson fouled 'Swords forward Chris Smith hard to prevent a dunk. Smith missed both free throws, and the 'Swords' best chance to restore momentum vanished.

The teams defused any hard feelings with a postgame cheer and hugs at midcourt after the closely fought game. PacWest commissioner Bob Hogue thanked Nash for the gesture afterward.

“;We live in this together and I certainly have a lot of respect for all the coaches in the state,”; Nash said. “;I just want to let them know I really appreciate them coming over here. The game could have gone either way. I have the utmost respect for (Chaminade coach) Matt (Mahar). He did a great job.”;

UH last took a regular-season loss to a local Division II team on Dec. 14, 1985, against Hawaii Pacific. For a while it seemed Chaminade would be the first team to accomplish the feat in the Sheriff.

“;Our guys played hard and I'm proud of them,”; Mahar said. “;But we had some mental lapses, including the technical foul and missing four free throws.”;

The Rainbows made a concerted effort to get Flemings the ball coming out of the break after their top player was scoreless at the half. UH moved him to the power forward spot and pounded the ball inside.

“;Coach told me I had to take more shots,”; Flemings said. “;I knew my teammates would get me into it. We knew it was going to turn around like that, but I gotta credit my teammates for getting me the ball.”;

Flemings hit a 3-pointer to pull UH within a point, 57-56 with 5 minutes left.

The 'Swords used a series of high ball screens right from the opening moments to free up shooters. CUH quickly drained three 3-pointers on listless UH for a 9-2 lead.

Chaminade never allowed its lead to slip to less than four, and the 'Swords continued to bomb away from deep — hitting 9-for-19 in the first half. Hanson hit an impressive step-back 3 over Brandon Adams at the halftime buzzer for a 38-25 lead, despite his team shooting just 38.7 percent from the field in the period and 32.8 for the game.

“;It was pretty embarrassing I guess,”; Thompson said. “;We didn't come out and play on all aspects of the game, on defense, offense, everything. At halftime we made a commitment to stick to our game and rely on each other.”;

Adams started in place of Balocka and went scoreless. Nash said Balocka, who went for 20 points and 20 rebounds against Lamar on Sunday, would be available for UH's next game vs. Chicago State on Saturday.