Sure, it’s possible. Anything’s possible. Hawaii could win three games in a row in the WAC tournament next week and take the conference championship and the NCAA berth that goes with it.

But I wouldn’t bet on it, and don’t know too many people who would right now. The odds against that are so huge now, good luck getting action on it even in Las Vegas, where the tournament will be held.

A win and you could almost forget about the disastrous previous three weeks.

Saturday night’s game against Utah State at the Stan Sheriff Center was one UH really needed. Not just for the seniors, since it was the last home game for seniors Zane Johnson and Miah Ostrowski (yes, I’d like to see them play again here, but please, no talk about more games in the buy-your-way-in tourney, not right now, not with a 15-15 record).

Ostrowski believes  the Rainbow Warriors can still win the tournament, and that’s what matters, right? The mind-set of the players.

But it’s hard for the rest of us to continue to buy in, after four consecutive blowout losses — and then this close one, this one in which UH led nearly the entire second half.

Ostrowski, the normally dependable point guard — the guy who has his scoring ability questioned, but led UH’s surge into control of the game early in the second half by putting the ball in the hole — was charged with the final turnover that gave the Aggies the win.

"I crossed him, got a little bump, but I wouldn’t have called it a foul," Ostrowski said.

The player guarding him was Brockeith Pane.

"I guess the little dude tried to go around me and I ended up with the ball," he said.

"There was some contact, but he mostly slipped."

Pane also said that he didn’t have control of the ball before he got up to his feet. UH fans saw it otherwise, and felt he should have been called for traveling, giving the Rainbows the ball back with a second or two on the clock.

MANY ALSO question another no-call … that of coach Gib Arnold, who had two timeouts left when it was done. Arnold — like Riley Wallace in a similar situation back when he had Anthony Carter as his point guard — said he did not call timeout by design.

"Anything under 8 seconds, we already know we don’t want to go against a set defense," Arnold said. "One hundred times out of one hundred times I’d do it the same way."

The play was Ostrowski dribble to the right, with Johnson set up on the left for a shot. There’s a strong case to call timeout and make sure everyone’s got it straight. Then again, if you can’t trust your seniors on senior night, who can you trust? It just didn’t work out this time.

I think if I’m in the throes of a losing streak, and I need at least a foul to tie, I call the timeout and reset the troops.

I like Arnold as coach, and I don’t mind that he gets paid the big bucks to make these decisions — bigger bucks than last season, when his team had a better record in his first year. But he also gets paid for the decisions to produce positive results.

UH might finish a game below .500 overall. It has virtually no chance of matching last year’s 19-13 mark. Arnold needs to turn the ship around, and it’s now clear that it’s too late for this season.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.