LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team has been here before but that didn't make the defeat any easier to accept.

For the third time in four years the Rainbow Warriors were ousted in the first round of a Western Athletic Conference Tournament by a game that went down to the last shot.

This time it was Utah State that eliminated UH, 73-70, when Matt Lojeski's 3-point shot from about 25 feet wouldn't fall at the buzzer.

"I'm disappointed for the team because I know how hard they wanted it this time," Riley Wallace said after coaching what was probably his final game of a 20-year career for UH.

Officials involved in the process said the 18-13 'Bows are a "long shot" to land a berth in the 32-team National Invitational Tournament field that will be announced Sunday.

"It might not be over, but it probably is," Lojeski conceded. "It is hard."

"We're worthy and we're still hopin', but it is tough," Wallace acknowledged.

And the 'Bows know tough — losses, especially — in their WAC Tournament openers. They lost 58-57 to New Mexico State last year and 70-68 to Rice in 2004.

It some ways it also was a reminder of their 2006-2007 season, when they lost seven games by three points or less.

This one came up short because the 'Bows' shooting did, too, after the intermission. UH shot 29.7 percent in the second half after shooting 50 percent in the first. "We couldn't get our inside game (going) with (Ahmet) Gueye, (P.J.) Owsley and (Stephen) Verwers," Wallace said of the trio who combined for 11 points. "They were doubling and tripling up and (we) weren't getting the ball out and finding the open man."

With the defense collapsing on him, Gueye was harassed into seven of UH's 13 turnovers.

"We didn't attack enough; we settled for outside shots," Lojeski said. Because they didn't press the issue, they got fewer trips to the free-throw line — 13 to Utah State's to 25.

Still, the 'Bows kept coming back , overcoming an eight-point deficit in the second half and taking their last lead, 58-57, with 6:51 remaining on Dominic Waters' 3-pointer. They were down 72-68 with 37.7 seconds left but closed to 72-70 when Nash, who had a 22-point game, put back a missed shot and Durrall Peterson missed two free throws.

Nash had a chance to give UH the lead, but his 3-pointer with about 10 seconds left failed to drop.

"The shot Bobby took from the corner, that's a shot he made all year," Wallace said. "He's just a little tired (after playing 38 minutes)."

Jaycee Carrol's final point of a 24-point night, a free throw after he missed the first one with four seconds remaining, set the stage for Lojeski and the 'Bows' last hope.

"That's the shot we wanted," Wallace said. "That's all you are going to get. We curled (Lojeski) off. I thought it would be the second guy but they left (Lojeski) open and he got a good shot at it."

Carroll said Lojeski's shot "looked like it was off from the beginning and that's a long shot. Those go in sometimes but I held my breath a little bit. I knew it would just tie the game and we could go into overtime at the minimum."

Utah State coach Stew Morrill said, "This is exactly the kind of game I thought it would be, down to the wire."

For the 'Bows, it was one more bitter end, maybe the most bitter one, in a string of them.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.