ANCHORAGE, Alaska — On its last day in the freezing weather, the University of Hawai'i got that warm, fuzzy feeling.

The Rainbow Warriors put together a collaborative effort in a 71-60 victory over Pacific yesterday in the third-place game of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout.

A crowd of around 3,000 at the Sullivan Arena watched the 'Bows go 2-1 in the tournament to improve to 4-2 overall. The Tigers went 1-2 in the Shootout and dropped to 2-3.

"You saw the real Rainbow Warriors tonight," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "We don't have superstars, but we have a good team that runs my offense and defense really well when they're all together and playing hard."

Senior co-captain Matt Lojeski — the closest to being a star on the Hawai'i roster — epitomized the team's 24-hour turnaround off a 72-56 loss to California on Friday. He scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and also had five steals, four rebounds and three assists.

"We just have to work on being more consistent," said Lojeski, who was limited to seven points in the loss to Cal. "But it was definitely there tonight. We had our energy. Everybody was playing hard on both ends. It really was a good game for the team."

Matt Gibson added 13 points, four assists and three steals, and Bobby Nash contributed 10 points, four steals and three rebounds.

In the loss to Cal, the starting trio of Lojeski, Gibson and Nash combined for 15 points. Last night, they scored 45 on 18-of-31 shooting.

"We just got back to our basic fundamentals," Gibson said. "We were crashing the boards, cutting down our turnovers, running our offense and picking up the pace on defense."

Pacific was coming off a tough game of its own in an 88-85 double-overtime loss to Loyola Marymount on Friday.

"We have experience in tournaments," Wallace said. "I know about the third-place game. You don't want to play in it, and when you do, it's tough to get your team up."

To avoid a letdown, Wallace scheduled a late-morning practice at Dimond High School yesterday.

"We had a good practice," Nash said. "Coach kept emphasizing that the team with the most energy was going to win this game. We kept that in mind and came out hard from the start."

The 'Bows utilized their size advantage to out-rebound Pacific, 35-24. Nine different Hawai'i players got in the game last night, and each one grabbed at least one rebound.

The 'Bows' starting lineup ranged from the 6-5 Gibson to 6-11 Stephen Verwers, while the Tigers countered with one that ranged from 6-1 Steffan Johnson to 6-7 Michael White.

"We know we have to take advantage against the smaller teams," Lojeski said. "That's why we were all crashing the boards, the big guys and the guards."

Senior forward Ahmet Gueye led Hawai'i with eight rebounds. He also had six points and five assists.

"Rebounding is an expression of your defense," Nash said. "And we wanted to come out and establish our defense."

Sure enough, Hawai'i raced to a 17-4 lead to open the game. During a two-minute stretch of that surge, the 'Bows scored eight points off four offensive rebounds.

The 'Bows increased the lead to as many as 16 in the first half, and took a 34-20 advantage at intermission. Hawai'i collected 11 of its 13 steals in the first half, and limited Pacific to a 36.4 shooting percentage (8 of 22) in the opening 20 minutes.

"We really took it to them early on and had the energy," Wallace said.

Hawai'i maintained the double-digit lead throughout the second half. The 'Bows led by as many as 18, and the 11-point final margin was as close as it got.

Lojeski scored 15 points in the second half to keep the Tigers at a distance.

"Every time (Pacific) closed it down to 12 or 13, he hit a big basket for us down the stretch," Wallace said of Lojeski.

The Tigers tried to rally from the outside, hitting 6 of 11 from 3-point range in the second half.

"We established our game from the start," Gibson said. "And I think that took (Pacific) out of their game the rest of the way."

Anthony Brown led the Tigers with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but he also committed six of the team's 19 turnovers.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.