As the final few seconds ticked away, Murphy Holloway stuffed one final lump of coal in Hawaii’s stocking.

Holloway and Ole Miss spoiled a mostly rousing effort by the Rainbow Warriors on Christmas, pulling away late for an 81-66 victory in the fifth-place game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

UH senior center Vander Joaquim announced his full recovery from a preseason MCL injury with a career-best 29 points to go with a DHC record-tying 15 rebounds and two blocks. His inspired play, combined with a 19-2 run to close the first half, allowed UH (6-5) to contemplate a victory over the athletic Southeastern Conference team despite an early 16-point deficit.

They would not complete the Christmas miracle, though. Hawaii saw a five-point second-half lead disappear, and after it tied things up at 63 on a free throw by Isaac Fotu with 3:55 left, the ‘Bows gave up a decisive 10-0 run that included two crippling turnovers. For the game, the Rebels (10-2) had a 26-2 advantage on points off giveaways.

"I think I played well, but I missed a couple easy shots," said Joaquim, whose previous career-best was 24, done twice. "We should have finished it those last two minutes of the game."

Holloway, who led his team with 18 points and nine rebounds, earned the ire of the Stan Sheriff Center crowd of about 2,500 for throwing down a meaningless, uncontested dunk just before the buzzer to cap the disastrous final four minutes.

UH coach Gib Arnold appeared miffed by Holloway’s display, but in the postgame he instead glowed about his team’s final nonconference effort before its upcoming Big West Conference debut.

"It’s not the outcome that we wanted, but there were too many good things just to drop our heads and get down," Arnold said. "We played well … my young guys played well for the most part. I thought this tournament, we got a little bit better, and that’s preparing us for conference, which is right around the corner."

The ‘Bows were to go right back to practice today to prepare for Saturday’s Big West home contest against Cal State Northridge.

If not for the late meltdown, it might have been the ‘Bows celebrating a third straight 2-1 finish in their nationally televised holiday tournament.

After Arnold’s team gave up three straight hoops but was still within striking distance at 69-63 with exactly two minutes left, the coach called timeout. But Aaron Jones stole the ball from Jace Tavita coming out of the timeout and Nick Williams slammed the life out of the building at the other end.

On the next possession, it was freshman Manroop Clair getting picked for a Williams layup with 1:25 left. The game was all but over; the Rebels extended their lead once UH resorted to fouling.

"At the end of the game, they picked up their pressure. Wanted to get us out of our sets," said Tavita, who generally made good on a return to the rotation with eight assists off the bench. "It disrupted us a little bit. But I think we broke down, mentally. We weren’t mentally strong like we need to be to close out games."

Guards Nick Williams and Marshall Henderson complemented Holloway, adding 16 points apiece for the Rebels. Collectively, they offset Joaquim’s monster game.

"(Vander Joaquim) is a tremendous player," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. "He’s long, he’s big and he moves people. We weren’t doing a good job of blocking him out far enough away. We were trying to battle, but they were so much bigger, they were reaching right over the top. Murph is a guy — he’s going to be a little undersized — but he’s obviously explosive, so we try to give him some room where he can go by you in space. He did a better job of that in the end."

The ‘Bows looked shellshocked down 27-11 with seven minutes to play in the half. Henderson, showing swagger, buried all four of his 3-pointers during that stretch. UH successfully used a box-and-one defense on him from there to limit his effectiveness.

UH eventually solved the press with Tavita coming in as the primary ballhandler and Clair playing the off-guard spot. Forward Christian Standhardinger added 10 points and four assists, but shot 3-for-11, while Clair was 2-for-8 in making his second straight start.

The ‘Bows closed the final 6:34 of the half with a 19-2 run, shooting 6-for-9 with 10 rebounds and just one turnover to take a 30-29 halftime lead.