Osaka, Japan » More than two weeks of grueling travel through a dozen cities in China and Japan finally caught up to the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

The UH players ended a successful Warriors to Asia tour on a down note with a 94-70 loss to the Panasonic Trians of the Japan Basketball League on Saturday, but still carried confidence in themselves into the impending fall semester and 2011-12 season.

About 500 fans in Panasonic Arena watched as the Trians, one of the better JBL teams in recent seasons, punished UH with a deadly transition game even after one of the league’s best shooters, Makoto Nagayama, went down with a knee injury in the first half.

After going ahead by double digits early in the second quarter, the Trians protected their lead the rest of the way by running off of every mistake the Rainbows made. UH would get no closer than 22 in the fourth quarter.

UH finished 3-2 in exhibitions against professional teams on the tour.

Players wouldn’t make excuses about tired legs, but UH coach Gib Arnold acknowledged it was a factor.

"They got us good. They jumped on us early, and we had a hard time coming back. This was the only game where I really felt like we just didn’t have the legs and kind of ran out of steam," Arnold said. "I give (the Trians) all the credit in the world … They beat us and my hat’s off to them.

"I thought (fatigue) would happen a little earlier, quite honestly," Arnold added. "We’ve kind of avoided it. The guys have played through fatigue the whole trip, we’ve been tired and we’ve traveled a lot. This is the first time where it really came up. I would like to play this team again, maybe on fresh legs … but I’m not taking anything away from them."

Another difference between this game and the tour’s previous contests against Chinese Basketball Association teams was the presence of American pros. Veteran forwards Adrian "Ace" Custis (game-high 25 points) and Charles O’Bannon swung the game with their size and savvy.

Junior forward Joston Thomas scored 17 points to lead UH, while freshman point guard Shaquille Stokes added 15. Freshman guard Brandon Jawato (3-for-3 on 3-pointers) and junior swingman Hauns Brereton added 11 points each, all after halftime.

It was obvious from the tip that the Rainbows were on their last legs. And there is little time for rest and recovery; the fall semester starts on Monday. The team was to depart Japan for Hawaii today.

No one complained about the timing of the trip.

"Right now it’s still early. It’s not even preseason yet," Thomas said. "This is summer, where players become good and good players become great. We’ll use this as a building block and just keep building from here. We had a great tour … I think we finished well as a team."

The fearless 5-foot-10 Stokes emerged as a go-to scorer on the trip despite not having played a single college game yet. He echoed his teammate’s sentiments.

"Overall the tour was great. We showed a lot of effort, showed that we could play," Stokes said. "We surprised a lot of people. We only had 10 days of practice (before the trip) and we got a lot of things done. And we’re still not at full strength."

UH senior shooting guard Zane Johnson, last season’s top scorer, was out with a right ankle sprain that dogged him for the entire trip. The Rainbows also expect to welcome back junior center Vander Joaquim, who’s played with the Angolan national team this summer, soon after returning home.

Even after a lopsided loss at trip’s end, Arnold looked back on the odyssey fondly.

"From top to bottom, everybody, the players have been gracious and great. We got better, we grew closer together and we had a phenomenal educational experience, too. … I’m excited to see my family and get back to Hawaii. But it’s been something I’ll never forget."