Isaac Fotu and Hawaii decided to grin and bear it against the Montana Grizzlies.

Fotu played through a broken right (shooting) hand suffered in Wednesday’s win over New Orleans and contributed 13 points in the Rainbow Warriors’ 72-61 defeat of the Grizzlies on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"It felt like shooting with brick hands," said Fotu, who went 3-for-9 at the foul line. "That’s what it felt like. It didn’t matter."

Said senior Christian Standhardinger, who led the way offensively with 26 points on 10-for-18 shooting: "We really need him and I’m glad he decided to play through the pain today. …

"Guys, he’s got a broken hand and he’s still playing. That’s how tough he is."

UH (5-2) won its third straight game by hanging tough against the elaborate halfcourt sets of the Grizzlies (1-4), who sought a deliberate pace by often working the clock right down to the end of the 35-second shot count.

The Grizzlies overcame an early 16-point deficit to claw within six at halftime and knotted things at 33 early in the second period — but they were never able to steal the lead as UH went back up by double-digits on a 3-pointer by Standhardinger with 12 minutes left.

UH went up double figures again on a take by Standhardinger at the midpoint of the second half. Aaron Valdes’ second alley-oop dunk of the night, a lob from Quincy Smith, got the crowd of about 5,500 rocking with a 13-point lead with 8:30 to play, and UH was not seriously threatened from there.

Senior guard Brandon Spearman set the defensive tone by limiting Montana’s best player, Kareem Jamar, to a scoreless first half and 16 points for the game. Jamar went for a triple-double in the teams’ last meeting two years ago, a 94-79 Grizzlies victory in Missoula, Mont.

Hawaii’s point output was a season low, but UH held the Grizzlies — a team shooting better than 50 percent from the field this season — to just 35.7 percent, and 18.5 percent (5-for-27) on 3-pointers. UH rotated well and challenged kickouts to perimeter shooters.

"I thought our defensive effort was fabulous, and I just love seeing that," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "If this team can continue to play defense like that, we’re going to be really tough to beat. That’s going to win you a lot of games."

UH’s dismal foul shooting (13-for-28, 46.4 percent) allowed Montana to hang around, combined with the Grizzlies’ solid outing at the line (16-for-19).

"Usually that means you’re going to get beat," Arnold said. "But our defense was good enough to absorb that."

Montana hasn’t lived up to the pedigree of a two-time Big Sky Conference defending champion so far this year. The Grizzlies dropped both games on its road trip to Washington and UH, and were clearly frustrated. Play got chippy at several moments, including when Standhardinger took a flagrant 1 foul on Jamar with 16 seconds left and double technicals were assessed.

Spearman added 13 points for UH, while reserve center Davis Rozitis played well in his 11 minutes on the court with four points, six rebounds, a block and a steal.

Guard Garrett Nevels provided another highlight with a second-half block rip against Keron DeShields, leading to a fast-break hoop by Standhardinger.

"We just got too many good weapons," Standhardinger said. "That’s why we can score. If we can lock down teams like this today, we will win games."

Fotu said he’s supposed to keep the mitt-like wrapping on his hand for the next three to four weeks and will play through it in the meantime. It’s supposed to heal on its own with the protective padding.

"Hopefully I’ll be out of it in two," Fotu said.

Hawaii jumped out to a 15-2 lead on Fotu’s spin post-up move.

Valdes’ first alley-oop dunk, from Keith Shamburger, made it 28-12 with 5:45 to play in the first half. Montana coaches saw it coming and screamed out "Lob!" to their players, but it was too late. Valdes threw down — hard.

The Grizzlies got back into it by out-executing the ‘Bows with patience and quality shots in the halfcourt, often just before the shot-clock buzzer. They made their first 12 free throws to hang around and were within 31-25 at the break.

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Read Brian McInnis’ Court Sense at staradvertiser.com/courtsense.