The SIUC men’s basketball team flirted with an upset Sunday night, but a familiar theme struck the players again in the second half.

The Salukis took a 43-42 lead over favored University of Hawaii with three minutes gone in the second half, but SIUC fell apart offensively as in its other three losses this season. The Rainbows went on a 33-12 run to take a 75-55 lead on the way to an 80-66 win over the Salukis in the championship of the Power Bar Invitational in Honolulu.

Hawaii moved to 4-0 on the year. SIUC fell to 2-4 on the season with the second-place finish. The loss marked the fourth time the Salukis have lost a second-half lead in their four losses.

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Saluki men’s basketball coach Rich Herrin said his team showed character in playing well for much of the game.

They’re (Hawaii) a good basketball team, Herrin said in his postgame radio show. We may not be as consistent as I’d like to have for 40 minutes, but I feel very good about our basketball team. I feel better right now than I did before we started the basketball game.

SIUC did not allow a crowd of 8,013 to distract it in the first half. The Salukis, paced by a solid effort from forward Rashad Tucker, hung right with the Rainbows and matched every Hawaii run with a run of their own.

Hawaii took a 30-24 lead with five minutes remaining, but SIUC responded to tie the game at 30-30 on a three-pointer by guard Shane Hawkins. SIUC then tied the game at 38-38 at the end of the half on a reverse layup by Josh Cross.

We had them tied at halftime, but we didn’t play under control in the last half, Herrin said. I believe in penetration, but you can’t beat them totally on the dribble.

After taking a 43-42 lead on a three-pointer by Chris Thunell, the Salukis relived a first-hand account of disaster on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Rainbows took advantage of SIUC’s poor second-half shooting and several turnovers to blow open a close game and take a 75-55 lead with four minutes and seven seconds left.

Hawaii finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field and 91 percent from the free-throw line while committing 10 turnovers. SIUC shot 42 percent from the field and committed 16 turnovers. The Salukis were outscored at the free-throw line 19-8 as SIUC shot just 61 percent from the charity stripe.

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Tucker finished the first half with nine points and five assists, but he managed just four points in the second half to lead SIUC with 13 points. Hawkins chipped in 13, while Thunell added 12.

We didn’t go right to him (Tucker) to start off the second half, and we ended up forcing some shots that we didn’t get down, Herrin said. He (Tucker) probably didn’t play as good in the second half, and he probably got tired.

Both teams played shorthanded Sunday night. Hawaii’s leading scorer, Anthony Carter, missed the game with an injured shoulder, but the Salukis felt the brunt of the loss as the team’s centers, Derrick Tilmon and James Watts, missed the championship contest. Their absence caused Herrin to play 13 players in Sunday night’s loss.

Tilmon is expected to miss another two to five weeks with a stress fracture in his left foot. Watts is expected to be ready this week. Watts missed the two Hawaii games after putting his hand through a window, an injury requiring stitches, following a 73-66 loss to St. Mary’s College Dec. 2 to open the three-game West Coast trip.

We’ve got some depth, but we need our two big guys bad, Herrin said. We weren’t very big, and we had to make some adjustments. If we get those two guys back, we’ll have that 5 (center) covered.

SIUC returned to Carbondale Monday and is preparing for a two-game homestand, beginning with a battle Thursday night against an improved Southeast Missouri State University squad. The Indians, led by 6-foot-10 center Bud Eley, beat the University of Colorado 62-59 Nov. 16 and Missouri Valley Conference-member Bradley University 79-71 Nov. 26.

They’re playing very, very good under (first-year coach) Gary Garner, Herrin said. They’re a very good basketball team, and we better be ready to come and not have a letdown. If we win the next three games, we can be over .500 by Christmas. I think we can, but it will take a good effort.