There’s always that one guy at the Y.

He’s older, slower, and generally less athletic than everybody else playing pick-up hoops. And he doesn’t care one lick — this special breed of hardwood veteran somehow scores the basketball with the best of them.

For the Hawaii basketball team, Gibson Johnson is “that guy.” Johnson, going on 25 years old, is the Rainbow Warriors’ senior citizen with the game to match.

The 6-foot-8 forward out of Salt Lake Community College heard all the comments about his old-man game, “Oh, before I was old,” Johnson said with a laugh.

Quipped UH’s 35-year-old head coach Eran Ganot, “He’s brought a different kind of experience. He’s almost as old as me.”

His style is guile. A collection of drop steps, baby hooks, and up-and-unders await anyone who stands between him and the rim.

“I mean, I have an old-man game at this level because I’m not going to be 10 inches above the rim dunking on someone,” Johnson said. “The old-man game is more crafty.”

And simply effective. Through seven games for 4-3 UH, Johnson is fourth on the team in scoring (10.9) and second in rebounding (5.6). He is shooting 57.1 percent from the field, sixth among qualifying Big West players.

He and the ’Bows other bigs figure to be tested by the front lines of both Seton Hall (5-2) and Princeton (2-3) in the Pearl Harbor Invitational on Tuesday and Wednesday at historic Bloch Arena.

Johnson, whose late paternal grandfather was a pilot in World War II, is allured by the prospect of paying homage to veterans on the 75th anniversary of a seminal moment in American history.

“It’ll be an experience like I’ve never had before,” he said. “I actually had the opportunity to go to Sept. 11 Ground Zero relatively right after it happened. So I feel like it’ll be something like that, where you just get to soak in the history and you appreciate the opportunities you’re given in this country and the people that have sacrificed their lives so we can enjoy freedoms like playing basketball every day.”

The well-traveled Johnson has perspective. When he came out to the islands for his recruiting visit over the summer fresh off of winning a junior college national championship, Hawaii was one of only four states he needed to cross off his list of hadn’t-beens.

Now it’s down to Montana and both Dakotas. Those will have to wait at least another year, as the Pearl Harbor event replaced the only nonconference road trip UH had in the works.

Johnson, who turns 25 in February, is one of the NCAA’s eldest players because he went to Brazil for a two-year church mission out of high school in Utah.

A late bloomer in terms of height — he went from 5-10 to 6-4 his junior year, two more inches as a senior and two more out of high school — Johnson was recruited mostly for his ability to swing a club. His final year at Viewmont High, he was an all-state golfer with a 2-handicap.

But he knew he wanted to take his mission first. By the time he came back from Brazil with sufficient command of the Portuguese language, he was bigger and stronger, too, landing him a spot at SLCC. He was teammates with two 7-footers, and that enhanced his ability to get in position and score around longer players. He started patterning his game after earthbound NBA post players like Zach Randolph and Kevin Love.

Upon arrival in Manoa, Johnson emerged as the man chiefly responsible for making up for UH’s massive offseason frontcourt losses. He embraced the challenge as the new “in” man in the four-out offense.

“I think he’s just a guy who knows how to play,” said assistant Chris Acker, who oversees the UH bigs. “He understands his limitations. He understands where he can get his shots off at, how to dribble-bump to create a little space.

“He’s going to get more touches than anybody in the country. We’re going to continue to throw it inside to him. That’s how we play … through our 5-man.”

Johnson used his skill-set against Florida Atlantic to score buckets down the stretch past the Owls’ 7-footer Ronald Delph, capped off with the game-winner on a drop step and spin move with 6.3 seconds left. Against Troy, he nearly tipped in a tying basket at the buzzer.

UH is looking at ways to expand his role, including for pick-and-pop and dribble-handoff action. Johnson can hit open 3s, but has attempted only one so far.

Bottom line — this old man lends some sorely needed experience to a roster that tips heavily toward youth.

“He’s an intelligent, crafty, gritty player, which I think we needed,” Ganot said.