At least a few people across the country stayed up — or woke up — to watch the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team get its first victory of the season yesterday.

The Rainbow Warriors defeated Idaho State, 67-64 in overtime, in an ESPN-televised game that started at 11 p.m. on Monday and ended at 1:30 a.m. yesterday.

"I just got so many text messages from my mom just a minute ago," Hawai'i junior forward Roderick Flemings said after the game. "How I missed so many free throws."

Flemings' mother, Kim Arthur, lives in Dallas, which means she was texting her son at 5:30 (Central time) in the morning.

Junior forward Bill Amis said his parents set an alarm clock to watch the game in Oklahoma City — which is also in the Central time zone.

"My parents went to sleep and then got up and watched it," he said.

What they saw was the first time in five years that Hawai'i won a game on national television. The 'Bows beat Chaminade in the nationally televised 2003 Maui Invitational, but had lost seven ESPN-televised games since then.

Yesterday's game was part of ESPN's inaugural "College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon," which featured 24 consecutive hours of basketball coverage.

UH is now 1-2 after opening the season with three games in four days. Idaho State dropped to 1-1.

The game provided viewers a mix of drama and comedy (of errors).

Hawai'i won despite shooting 33.3 percent from the field (17 of 51), including 25 percent from 3-point range (4 of 16). The 'Bows also committed 21 turnovers and passed for just 10 assists.

The Bengals shot 36.2 percent from the field (21 of 58), including 30.8 percent from 3-point range (4 of 13). They also committed 21 turnovers and passed for just 10 assists.

"It wasn't pretty at times, but the effort was there," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said.

Flemings led the way for the 'Bows. The 6-foot-7 junior forward scored 17 points, including five in overtime, grabbed eight rebounds, and had three steals while playing the entire 45 minutes.

"We're starting to jell together," Flemings said. "Starting to learn the offense a little better."

Flemings also played various roles throughout the game. He started as the shooting guard, and finished as the power forward.

But as his mother noted, Flemings did struggle at the free-throw line, making 4 of 10.

His teammates made up for it. UH went 29 of 39 on foul shots, while Idaho State went 18 of 21.

Flemings' putback with 3:42 remaining in overtime gave the 'Bows a 56-55 lead they would not relinquish. They sealed the win by converting 7 of 8 free throws in the final 26 seconds.

"I consider free throws and putbacks, layups, to be easy points," Idaho State head coach Joe O'Brien said. "And we gave up too many easy points."

But the Bengals also employed a 1-3-1 zone defense that frustrated the 'Bows for most of the game.

"Making Hawai'i shoot jump shots from behind the (3-point) line was high on our check list because we hadn't seen them do it," O'Brien said. "That part of it was OK, our defense. It was on the other end where we just made too many turnovers."

The 'Bows also played effective defense, even using a full-court press in the second half to rally from a seven-point deficit.

"I liked the way our guys held their ground," Nash said. "Most importantly, they played solid defense from beginning to end, got the key turnovers when we needed them."

Amis contributed 13 points and eight rebounds, and Brandon Adams had 10 points and six rebounds in his first start of the season. Adhar Mayen also started for the first time, and responded with eight points, five rebounds and four steals.

Both teams said the 11 p.m. start had no effect on the outcome of the game, and would do it again if given the chance.

"It's 5 a.m. in the morning in Idaho — that's an obscene time to be playing basketball," O'Brien said. "But it's an opportunity for a program like ours to play on national television and that's why we agreed to do it and we have no regrets. We played hard. Our guys weren't tired. We just didn't win the game."

Nash said Hawai'i's unique time zone could put the 'Bows in the ESPN event again, if it continues next season.

"For the event to work, Hawai'i had to be in the mix because there aren't too many people that can start at 11 at night," Nash said. "So there's a great possibility that they'll keep this time slot for us."

There was also a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 2,033 that was surprisingly enthusiastic from late-night start to early-morning finish.

"I thought tonight was an awesome crowd," Nash said. "To have the students down on the floor and be able to get involved ... it was just a rewarding feeling for the players and myself."