They'll take it.

A heavily depleted Hawaii team scrapped its way to an 81-62 win behind Dwain Williams' 28 points and a career effort from Paul Campbell last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Despite the final score differential and Williams' third straight game of 20 or more points, little of the game was aesthetically pleasing, as UH shot 35.6 percent from the field and had 17 turnovers.

But Campbell, a senior center, went for career highs of 14 points and 15 rebounds, and junior guard Jeremy Lay added 14 of his 15 points in the second half to secure the win.

Now the Rainbow Warriors (7-6) look ahead to the start of Western Athletic Conference play on Saturday with a little momentum.

A crowd of 2,579 saw a total of 58 fouls called in the disjointed game, but Hawaii got the best of NSU (5-6) once Lay hit a pull-up 3-pointer from the right angle to beat the shot clock, giving UH a 53-43 lead with 9 minutes left. UH led by double digits the rest of the game and scored 52 points in the second half as both teams traded an obscene number of free throws in the final 10 minutes.

The Rainbows were without top scorer Roderick Flemings (bruised right knee) for the second straight game, and point guard Hiram Thompson missed his first game of the season after taking a shot to the head late in UH's loss to Saint Mary's on Christmas Day.

Combine that with the season-long absence of forward Bill Amis with an injured foot, and the Rainbows were severely shorthanded. Nonetheless, they improved to 5-2 on their nine-game homestand.

“;Tonight's game was truly team effort, under the circumstances of not having Rod or Hiram on the floor,”; Hawaii head coach Bob Nash said. “;Guys had to step up and be leaders out there, and got that from Paul Campbell with his double-double ... and he did more things that go unnoticed. You can't shout enough praises on that young man for the way he played tonight.”;

Hawaii stayed afloat behind Williams, who put up 36 in UH's last outing vs. Saint Mary's and led all scorers in the recent Diamond Head Classic.

Hawaii plays Idaho next to start WAC play at the Sheriff on Saturday, and Nash said Flemings and Thompson will be back.

“;First of all, we didn't want to lose to a team like that,”; Williams said. “;Second, we needed our rhythm going into conference play. We want to start off strong, so this was a real important win.”;

Buoyed by Campbell's second career double-double, Hawaii outrebounded NSU 53-38. Petras Balocka grabbed 11 rebounds and Brandon Adams added 12 points and eight boards off the bench.

“;I know Rod and Hiram do a lot for the team,”; said Campbell, who added three of UH's five blocks. “;I felt like I had to step up, especially with Rod, he gets a lot of rebounds at his position, so I just felt like I had to do more for the team.”;

Lay made his first career start, and handled much of the team's entries into offensive sets in Thompson's absence. He was slow to start (and shot 2-for-11), but went 9-for-10 at the foul line. Williams was 11-for-13 as UH went 32-for-44 (72.7 percent) from the stripe as a team.

Williams hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put UH up 41-34 with 14:21 left, but NSU countered with hustle for extra chances to spur a 6-0 spurt and pull within 41-40. The Demons never got over the hump to take a lead in the second half, though.

The Southland Conference team from Natchitoches, La., made its fourth trip to Honolulu in nine years, and ended up losing to UH for the fourth time. NSU had just two assists, setting a Sheriff record low in passing futility.

The Demons platooned groups of four and five players at a time. Charles Clark led the Demons with 12 points as NSU got 36 points off the bench, but only 26 from its starters.

UH held the Demons without an assist in the first half while forcing 11 turnovers. But the Rainbows were far from efficient themselves, with 29 percent shooting, 11 turnovers and just four assists.

Hawaii 81, Northwestern State 62

Demons (5-6)

Rainbow Warriors (7-6)

Key— fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played

Halftime— Hawaii 29, Northwestern State 23

3-point goals— NSU 2-11 (Charles 2-2, Knight 0-1, Baker 0-2, M. McConathy 0-2, Jones 0-4), Hawaii 7-22 (Williams 5-9, Lay 2-6, Balocka 0-1, Xiang 0-1, Mayen 0-5)

Steals— NSU 6 (Knights 2, Brooks 2, Davis, M. McConathy), Hawaii 2 (Lay 2)

Blocked shots— NSU 2 (Mosley 2). Hawaii 5 (Campbell 3, Mayen, Xiang)

Officials— Winston Stith, Larry Spaulding, Eric Morales

A—2,579