Last year, University of Hawai'i guard Riley Luettgerodt had the first word.

Last night, he got the last word.

On both occasions, the joy of text has been his against Long Beach State in basketball.

Luettgerodt had a team-high 13 points and game-high eight rebounds in a 61-57 victory over the 49ers last night which preserved bragging rights — and a lot more — for the senior from Gladstone, Ore.

Clearly, the victory, UH's third against four losses this season, was the big prize on a night when the Rainbow Warriors were taken to the wire again but, this time, managed to hold on. With nine days before their next game, the opener of the Rainbow Classic against Louisiana Lafayette on Dec. 19, this was one the 'Bows had to have or they would spend a lot of time kicking themselves for it.

To get it, they turned in part, to Luettgerodt, a man who, it turns out, wanted it pretty badly, too.

"I have a couple of friends over there (among the 49ers), so I guess that made me play harder," Luettgerodt said.

It is actually a story nearly 10 months and a lot of messaging in the making. After he put up what remains a career-high 23 points against The Beach last year, Luettgerodt didn't waste much time in texting high school friend Brandon Johnson, who had signed to play for the 49ers this season.

"He told me, 'I put up 23 on your school to be,' " Johnson said. Whereupon Luettgerodt said Johnson texted back: "We'll be be ready for you this time."

Among those waiting for him were Johnson, from Vancouver, Wash. and Brian Freeman, from Oregon City, Ore., whom Luettgerodt played against in junior college and had hosted on a UH recruiting visit.

Their upcoming game, a return contest for UH going to Long Beach, Calif. last year as part of the ESPN "Bracket Buster" series, became a topic of off-season conversation. The challenge had been extended. And as it approached, it became an issue for messaging. "I told him (the 23) was last year, he won't do it against us," Johnson said.

Luettgerodt didn't. But he got enough, especially in key second-half junctures, to help hold off the 49ers. He got the baskets the 'Bows had to have and the rebounds they needed. "Tonight (Luettgerodt) got into a groove, he made some shots, he was active," head coach Bob Nash said.

But, then, having weighed in with the first word, Luettgerodt wanted to leave with the last one, too.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.