Washington’s length and its zone defense’s width added up to a 72-61 basketball victory over Hawaii in Monday’s semifinals of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

The 21st-ranked Huskies stifled the Rainbow Warriors into 28.4% shooting to advance into the Christmas Day title game against Houston at 3:30 p.m. The ’Bows (8-4) will play Georgia Tech for third place at 1:30 p.m.

There was little consolation for Hawaii despite twice whittling what had been a 15-point deficit to six points.

“You play the game to win,” said Chris Gerlufsen, UH’s acting head coach. “We want the opportunity to play teams like this. So when you don’t play up to the level you think you can, there’s a lot of disappointment and anger in the locker room. I think we control a lot of the stuff that went wrong for us in the game tonight. That’s the disappointing part, and that’s where some of the frustration comes with some of the guys in the locker room.”

After defeating UTEP in Sunday’s opening round, the ’Bows had a short turnaround to prepare for the Huskies’ elastic 2-3 zone. It was a scheme UW coach Mike Hopkins learned during his 16 seasons as Jim Boeheim’s assistant at Syracuse.

On Monday morning, Hawaii went through a walk-through practice.

“It’s easy to put your scout group out and say, ‘all right, this is what the 2-3 zone is going to look like,’ ” Gerlufsen said. “But when you get out there and actually see it in person, it’s impressive. They’re one of the more lengthy and athletic teams you’ll see in the country, and they disrupted us for sure.”

The Huskies plan was to use up to three defenders at the front of the zone. They then flexed their two 6-foot-9 freshmen — Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels — to double the perimeter.

Hawaii had difficulty seeing the 3s because of the forest of tall defenders. The ’Bows missed 29 of their first 34 shots from behind the arc. They hit their final four 3s after the suspense ended.

“It was an off night,” UH point guard Drew Buggs said. “But it was a credit to their defense. They forced some tough shots.”

Hawaii’s best deep shooter — Eddie Stansberry — struggled with his aim. He was one of 17, with all of his shots launched from behind the 3-point line.

“Eddie is a shooter,” Gerlufsen said. “He’s going to have good runs and bad runs and everything in between. We don’t want to let shooting affect every other part of his game. I thought he had some stretches when he got kind of out of character of what we expect out of Eddie. But he’ll bounce back and be ready to go. We just don’t want him to get down on himself. We’re counting on him.”

In their first 11 games, the Huskies had a three-prong attack — Stewart and McDaniels from mid-range in, and point guard Quade Green on drives. Green entered averaging 18.8 points in the previous four games. But with the ’Bows rotating single coverage on Stewart, trying to deny him from setting up in his comfort area, the plan switched.

“I thought they were going to double, but I saw they were playing one on one,” Stewart recalled. “I thank God for coaches and teammates, because as soon as they saw that, they told me, ‘Zay, they playing you one on one, so just go every time, don’t even look to pass out.’ There were times I was trying to be unselfish, but they told me to just keep doing it out there.”

Stewart hit 13 of 21 shots, with all but two taken with his feet on the paint, and finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds. Green had seven assists. McDaniels scored nine points, but he suctioned 13 rebounds and disrupted the ’Bows’ offensive flow.

“He didn’t have an offensive night, but the dude was special,” Stewart said. “You seen him all over the floor, affecting the game. I just want to give him credit for that, doing his thing. And I was proud of him.”

Justin Webster led Hawaii with 16 points. Zigmars Raimo finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds.