Josh Pierre-Louis scored 14 points and UC Santa Barbara repelled a late Hawaii charge in a 67-60 men’s basketball victory tonight in the Thunder Dome on the UCSB campus.

Despite the loss, the Rainbow Warriors (9-5) remained in third place in the Big West, and will advance to next Thursday’s quarterfinals of the league tournament.

The ’Bows closed to 58-57 on Kamaka Hepa’s fifth 3-pointer of the game with 2:25 to play. But then the Gauchos scored six in a row to reclaim control. The outcome was emphatically sealed when UCSB’s Amadou Sow rejected JoVon McClanahan’s driving shot and recovered the ball with 9.8 seconds left.

Hepa, who appeared to suffer an ankle injury in last Saturday’s game, was back in the starting lineup tonight. Hepa finished with a game-high 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 5-for-9 on treys. He also pulled down seven rebounds.