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It was a Grim finish on senior night.

Hawaii was on the cusp of ending its late-season meltdown, leading Utah State by a point with time winding down.

But Aggies forward Morgan Grim scored on a spinning take to the basket with 7 seconds left — USU’s first lead of the second half — and the Rainbow Warriors failed to get a shot up in the final, frantic seconds, suffering a 61-60 loss.

Point guard Miah Ostrowski drove upcourt, but tripped and lost the ball inside the free-throw line against some contact by USU counterpart Brockeith Pane. After an inadvertent stop of the clock for a couple of heartbeats with under 3 seconds left, Pane heaved the ball to the other end, the buzzer eventually sounded, and the visitors mobbed each other on the Stan Sheriff Center "H."

UH players and coach Gib Arnold could barely recall the bizarre stoppage of time, only the stomach punch of a finish.

"I thought there would be a foul called, but it was a good no-call," Pane said of the final play. "The game wasn’t won or lost on that last play. We hung in there."

It was a memorable final Western Athletic Conference game in the building, if not for all the right reasons for the hosts. UH’s fifth straight loss meant the ‘Bows (15-15, 6-8 WAC) dropped to the sixth seed in next week’s WAC tournament and will face third-seeded Idaho in the first round on Thursday.

"I’ll have to watch the replay. Actually, I might not watch. That was brutal," said guard Zane Johnson of the finish.

Ostrowski, who was honored after the game with fellow senior Johnson, stayed positive. Both players got a rousing ovation from the "Whiteout" crowd of about 7,000.

"That’s not my decision to say if there was or wasn’t," Ostrowski said of contact on the final play. "There obviously wasn’t enough contact. But it’s all right, I’m not going to dwell on it.

"We lost tonight, but we lost as a team," he said. The point guard once again had a memorable night against USU at the Sheriff, scoring 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting with four assists.

The fourth-place Aggies (17-14, 8-6) seemingly tried to find ways to avoid an eighth straight win in the series over UH, shooting only 12-for-26 (46.2 percent) at the free-throw line.

But just like they always seem to do against the Rainbows, home or away (it was their eighth straight win in the series) the Aggies escaped. They were helped by UH going 3-for-6 at the line in the final 2:08, with Hauns Brereton, Johnson, and Joston Thomas all having unfulfilled opportunities.

And center Vander Joaquim had a second straight quiet night, finishing with a season-low two points and fouling out with less than 9 minutes left.

It ultimately cost UH. Pane hit a fadeaway with about 1:40 left to cut UH’s lead to 58-57. After Johnson made one of two at the line, Preston Medlin connected on a baseline jumper to tie it at 59 with just under a minute left.

Thomas scored a team-high 19 points, the last of which was a single free throw for UH’s last lead of 60-59 with 37 seconds left.

USU’s last offensive possession resulted in a bullet pass to Grim in the paint, and the forward spun around a UH defender and flipped it up and in with one hand.

Pane led USU with 20 points and Medlin added 19. USU won the rebounding battle 37-27 after UH won that decisively in the Aggies’ 77-72 win in Logan, Utah, in January.

Arnold lauded his team for playing with heart, something the ‘Bows had been criticized for lacking in their four previous blowout losses.

"I thought they gave everything they got," Arnold said. "We played really well. We’d been struggling. … It comes down to a couple free throws and one stop."

On the final play, he said: "It’s unfortunate. I’d have liked to see a shot go up, and have a chance to get it off the rim, or get fouled or something. It’s tough. It’s tough, but I’m proud of them. I told them, ‘I recognize that team.’ … I can go to battle with these guys."

Despite the stunning ending, most of the crowd stayed for senior ceremonies.

"I think it’s great," said Johnson, who was sick leading up to the game and needed IV fluids. "They’ve been supportive all year. It’s been a rough year. We didn’t win, unfortunately. … At the end of the day, we have great fans, and the fact that they came to support us after a four-game losing streak was great."