ANAHEIM, Calif. >> The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors could not close the deal on UC Irvine and the Big West Conference tournament.

UH led in Saturday’s championship game for the whole first half and was even with the Anteaters through 30 minutes of play but third-seeded UCI pulled away late to defeat UH 67-58 at the Honda Center.

The fifth-seeded Rainbow Warriors enjoyed a spirited run to the title game with wins over Long Beach State and top-seeded UC Davis on Thursday and Friday, but were ultimately denied in their bid for their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2002.

The season is likely over for the Rainbows (22-13), who do not have the requisite RPI to make the National Invitation Tournament. Athletic director Ben Jay has said the athletic department cannot afford the payment required to participate in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, and reaffirmed it after Saturday’s loss.

However, he did not rule it out completely.

"I don’t see us playing in a postseason tournament," Jay said. "Financially, we can’t really take a chance on the CIT or CBI.

"We’ve had a great season … the kids ought to be proud of their effort this season," Jay continued. "But as far as postseason, I just reserve judgment on that right now."

The future is unclear for interim coach Benjy Taylor, the former associate head coach who took over at the season’s start when Gib Arnold was fired on Oct. 28. Taylor has said he will apply for the permanent coaching job once it is posted.

Taylor and glum UH players were not expecting any reversal of postseason fortune after the loss.

"First of all, I’d like to just say my hat’s off to Irvine," Taylor said. "They’re a very good ball club and very well-coached and they’ve been good in this league for a while. In order to get here we beat some pretty good teams. We were eight to 10 minutes away from finishing it. But we’ll get better, we’ll come back and next year we’ll win it for G (senior Garrett Nevels) and the rest of the guys in that locker room."

The Honda crowd of about 3,000 was comprised about two-thirds of UCI fans, but UH had vocal support as well. Anteaters fans stormed the court when their team held on with free throws in the final seconds.

Guard Luke Nelson led the second-half Anteater comeback with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting. UCI (21-12) earned its first victory in the Big West tourney title game in five tries and earned its first-ever NCAA appearance.

For UH, forward Aaron Valdes scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half. Nevels scored 14 on 6-for-12 shooting.

Valdes and point guard Roderick Bobbitt made the all-tournament team. For Irvine, forward Will Davis II was named tournament MVP and Nelson was all-tournament.

UH was swept by UCI home-and-home during the regular season, and the Anteaters did it without their 7-foot-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye, the tallest player in college basketball. This time Ndiaye was an imposing presence in the paint, altering many shots. UH shot 37.7 percent to 44.4 percent for UCI.

An early 13-point UH lead dwindled to two in the final minute of the first half. UH settled for a four-point halftime advantage — which disappeared immediately to start the second period.

The teams battled evenly through the first 10 minutes of the second half. Irvine claimed its first lead, 42-40, on a short hook shot by Ioannis Dimakopoulos.

Bobbitt picked UCI’s pocket in the open court — his 100th steal of the season — and took it in for a layup to tie it back up. Isaac Fleming followed with a strong take as recaptured the lead, 45-43.

Mike Thomas sank a 17-footer from the baseline for a 47-44 UH advantage. But the Anteaters then rolled off eight straight points to take a 52-47 lead.

Valdes ended the run with a deep 3-pointer from the wing to cut it to 52-50 with three minutes left.

Nevels hit a floater and a top-arc 3 to keep UH within 59-55 with 1:04 to go.

Bobbitt was tagged with a foul and Nelson made two at the line. Bobbitt came back with a three-point play to make it 61-58 with 45.9 seconds left.

UH fouled Alex Young, who made one of two to make it a four-point game. Valdes was errant on a 3 from the corner and UH had to foul again.

Irvine punctuated the win with a tomahawk dunk by Davis and an Ndiaye block of Nevels at the rim at the buzzer.

UH scorched the nets for the first seven minutes of the game, jumping out to a 20-7 start by hitting on four of five 3-pointers, similar to what the Rainbows did in their semifinal win over top-seeded UC Davis.

Alex Young sank a pull-up jumper to cut it to 31-29.

Valdes hit a tough runner to make it 33-29 and Jankovic stripped Will Davis II at the other end to preserve the four-point halftime lead.

Valdes had 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting and five rebounds in the period.