Hawaii 37, Nevada 17

HONOLULU - It's hard enough for struggling Nevada to win a conference game on the road.

But without coaches on the field being able to communicate with coaches in the press box is a major disadvantage, said Nevada coach Chris Tormey after their 37-17 loss to Hawaii on Saturday night.

''We brought our own headsets but we never had this problem before,'' Tormey said. ''Every single one of our headsets were down.''

Coaches for the Warriors (2-7, 2-6 Western Athletic Conference), who are also trying to keep out of the conference cellar, kept using their headsets.

''I guess they didn't feel like they needed to take theirs off,'' Tormey said. ''What are you going to do? I don't know how many times I told the officials. (They said) there's nothing they can do about it.''

Although the malfunctioning headsets did create problems, it might not have made a difference.

''That's not the reason we lost,'' Tormey said. ''We got beat by a better team...We make too many mental mistakes.''

The Wolf Pack (1-9,0-6) had problems stopping Hawaii's offensive attack led by Ashlie Lelie, who caught two touchdown passes, and finished with nine receptions for a career-high 170 yards.

James Fenderson added two rushing scores and had 19 carries and a career-high 147 yards.

Despite throwing two interceptions, Warriors quarterback Timmy Chang finished the game completing 24 of 44 passes for 283 yards in front of a crowd of 30,409.

''I'm just happy for the guys,'' said Hawaii's second-year coach June Jones. ''We did some things and finally got some turnovers.''

In a losing effort, David Neill completed 26 of 49 passes for 326 yards and two touchdowns while breaking the school's record for career passing yardage and total offense.

Neill said he felt ''100 percent'' despite sitting out last week's game with a wrist and shoulder injury.

''It was tough for us to get in the end zone today,'' he said.

Nate Burleson added eight receptions for 104 yards for the Wolf Pack.

The Warriors pressured Neill all night, sacking him five times and roughing him up on several occasions.

''Defensively, I was real pleased,'' Jones said. ''Overall we were not consistent, but we'll take the win.''

A turning point was in the second quarter when the Wolf Pack intercepted Chang's pass and had a first down on the Hawaii 18. On the next play, Neill was intercepted by Safety Nate Jackson in the end zone.

Hawaii went 80 yards in the next two plays in 33 seconds and scored it's first touchdown, tying the game 10-10.

Hawaii broke the tie and took the lead for good on Fenderson's 2-yard touchdown run with 2:17 left in the first half, taking a 17-10 lead into the locker room.

Nevada's offense sputtered in the second half, punting five times. They also fumbled once and turned it over on downs on another occasion.

The Wolf Pack scored on a 19-yard pass from Neill to Tim Fleming with 4:35 left in the game, making it 30-17. The Warriors answered with a 26-yard touchdown run by Thero Mitchell.