RENO, Nev. » Hawaii had one chance to beat Nevada, and that was to control the tempo at the offensive end of the floor.

The strategy worked well throughout the conference game, but in the end the Rainbow Warriors were unable to take advantage of some good offensive opportunities and dropped a 66-60 decision to Nevada before a crowd of 7,490 at Lawlor Events Center.

Hawaii (9-13, 2-7) has lost eight straight to the Wolf Pack and 11 of the last 12 in the series. The last UH win against Nevada came on Jan. 5, 2006, in Honolulu, as UH remained winless in Reno in 13 tries.

“;We decided that our best option to win was to play zone the whole game and force them to shoot over the top, and to rebound the ball well,”; Hawaii coach Bob Nash said. “;We won the boards by two (35-33).

“;The shots we got we couldn't get to go down. We had opportunities at the basket. I thought we came out with great focus. The other night (an 83-60 loss at San Jose State on Thursday) wasn't indicative of how we play.”;

And, you won't hear any of the Hawaii players taking solace in almost beating the Wolf Pack for the first time in four years.

“;There are no moral victories,”; UH guard Jeremy Lay said after the team's fourth straight loss. “;We've been losing. We want to start winning. We didn't show up at San Jose. We did a good job vs. a great team.”;

Hawaii certainly earned the respect of Wolf Pack coach David Carter.

“;They did a good job of slowing us up,”; Carter said. “;My hat's off to them for playing zone as long as they did. Forty minutes of zone is tough to play against, especially when your shots aren't falling.”;

Despite the fact Hawaii had Nevada slowed down, the Wolf Pack seemed to have the game well in hand with a 10-point lead, 51-41, with 8:50 left.

However, UH went on a 15-5 run to tie the game at 56 with 2:02 remaining.

Roderick Flemings, who led Hawaii with 17 points, started the surge with a layup, and after two straight Nevada misfires, Brandon Adams (13 points, nine rebounds) scored on a layup. Flemings scored on a fadeaway and all of a sudden it was a 51-47 game with 7 minutes left.

Armon Johnson (nine points, 12 assists) interrupted the UH run with a floater in the key, but a dunk by Adams and a free throw by Leroy Lutu made it 53-50. After another Nevada miss, Hawaii failed to hit either of its two shots on the next possession. Johnson came down after the second miss and converted a three-point play for a 56-50 lead with 4:13 left.

Hawaii lost the ball on its next two possessions, but Nevada was unable to convert. The Rainbows scored three straight buckets, two by Flemings and one by Jeremy Lay to deadlock the game at 56.

Luke Babbitt (20 points, nine rebounds) drained two free throws for a 60-58 lead, but Adams missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 1:32 left, and Babbitt knocked down two more throws for a 60-56 lead. Four points was as close as UH would get the rest of the way.

Nevada rolled to an early 10-0 lead in the first 3 minutes, but the Rainbow Warriors used surges of 8-0 and 12-0 to tie the game at 28 after the first 20 minutes and wipe out Nevada's 12-point lead.

Flemings had a basket and three-point play in that span, while Hiram Thompson knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

“;We stuck to the game plan,”; Lay said. “;I don't think they wanted to guard us for more than 20 seconds. They wanted to speed it up; that's how they play. It was to our advantage to slow down.”;

“;We just worked,”; Nash said. “;When we move without the ball we're hard to guard.”;

Hawaii took its only lead of the game, 30-28, 2 minutes into the second half on a layup by Adams, but Nevada went on a 16-4 run to take a 45-34 lead with 12:29 left.

Note: Hawaii played the last 9-plus minutes without Thompson, who injured his left shoulder after an apparent collision with Johnson. He left the arena with an ice bag on his shoulder.