On Super Hero Night, Hawaii defeated its kryptonite.

Cal Poly, the Rainbow Warriors’ nemesis over the last four years, could not extend its mastery over UH to a sixth straight game as the ‘Bows’ big men loomed large in a 69-60 victory on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Costumed heroes (and villains) lined the court for the pregame introductions. But it was forward Isaac Fotu who provided the true heroics with 26 points on 10-for-13 shooting, while senior Christian Standhardinger was an able sidekick this night with timely putbacks and hustle plays among his 18 points and 12 rebounds.

"We’ve never beaten them, so this game was kind of personal for us," Fotu said.

Standhardinger, sitting next to Fotu at the postgame interview table, embraced the night’s theme.

"He played like The Hulk tonight. He was green, not human," Standhardinger said.

UH (16-7, 5-4) remained in the top half of the Big West Conference in salvaging a 2-2 record to complete its four-game homestand. Now the ‘Bows head back to the road for contests at UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton.

Cal Poly entered the game with five straight wins over the Rainbow Warriors dating back to 2010, including a lopsided 77-65 affair in San Luis Obispo, Calif., last month, in which the Mustangs shot 50 percent and led the whole way. On Saturday, they were held to 38.6 percent.

Coming off an 11-point home loss to UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, the ‘Bows came out inspired and stuck to their game plan — working the ball down low. They outmuscled the Mustangs 38-22 on the glass and 40-20 in points in the paint.

Getting back in the win column against the Mustangs just felt a little bit better than responding against just any other team.

"We just played tough tonight," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "I think it was a mixture of losing that one on Thursday, and (it being) Cal Poly (tonight). Finally saying, enough is enough. You know, these guys have had our number and we’re not going to take it. We’re going to play our system, and we’re going to win."

Senior forward Chris Eversley, Poly’s top scorer who scored 25 in the Mustangs’ 64-61 win on UH’s senior night last year, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with just two points.

Eversley got on the board with two free throws with 11:30 to play, but that would be it for him.

"Eversley definitely is a good player," Standhardinger said. "Tonight he had more fouls than points. So that just shows … we take something like that personal."

A crowd of about 6,000 made itself heard during a game-breaking 8-0 run with about five minutes left — during which Fotu scored twice from point-blank range — after which the Mustangs (8-14, 4-5) got no closer than six. Guards Garrett Nevels and Keith Shamburger had quiet offensive nights overall, but they put the game away with 5-for-6 shooting at the line in the final minute.

A second straight subpar outside shooting night (2-for-11 on 3s) didn’t derail the ‘Bows this time, as it did on Thursday.

"We didn’t want to shoot outside shots until it went inside, either by drive or by pass," Arnold said.

"Give the guards credit, because that’s what they did. They passed up good shots for great shots."

Mustangs coach Joe Callero studied the Hawaii shot chart among the postgame statistics. It was an amorphous blob of smaller circles representing shots in the paint.

"Nothing was more glaring," Callero said. "The domination they had on the rebounding side. We got pushed around, and we got muscled around. Isaac Fotu and Standhardinger had very hungry, aggressive nights and they deserved the victory."

Poly was forced to challenge UH from the perimeter. It attempted 28 3-pointers, sinking 10 (35.7 percent). Forward David Nwaba and guard Kyle Odister led the Mustangs with 12 points apiece.

UH quickly built on its eight-point halftime lead, getting three straight baskets from Fotu to open the second half.

But the Mustangs, who always seemed to have an answer for UH, had one final run in them.

They got a deep 3-pointer from Anthony Silvestri to make it 50-45. Standhardinger committed a charging foul and Fotu was whistled for a bumping foul on a hedged ball screen. Ridge Shipley went to the line for a 1-and-1 and missed the front end, but he connected on a deep trey the next trip down to keep Poly’s 8-0 run going and trim UH’s lead to 50-48, coaxing a timeout from Arnold.

Fotu ended the run with a lefty baby hook against rare solo coverage.

Silvestri bombed another 3 to make it a one-point game, but Standhardinger got a tip-in and Fotu reached way back for a lob layup from Shamburger to ignite UH’s separating run.

Thirteen minutes of Davis Rozitis-led point-zone defense was instrumental in the win.

"Our point press and our point defense was the best defense we had tonight," Arnold said.

BIG WEST MEN

Saturday
Hawaii 69, Cal Poly 60
CS Northridge 92, CS?Fullerton 83 OT
UC Irvine 61, UC Davis 59
Long Beach State 88, UC Riverside 76

Thursday
Hawaii at UC Riverside, 5 p.m.
Cal Poly at CS Northridge
UC Santa Barbara at Long Beach State
UC Davis at CS Fullerton

HAWAII 69, CAL POLY 60
MUSTANGS (8-14, 4-5 BWC)

RAINBOW WARRIORS (16-7, 5-4 BWC)

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.
Halftime — Hawaii 32, Cal Poly 24 3-points goals — Cal Poly 10-28 (Odister 4-11, Shipley 3-5, Silvestri 2-5, Johnson 1-2, Awich 0-1, Eversley 0-3). Hawaii 2-11 (Standhardinger 1-2, Shamburger 1-5, Nevels 0-2, Spearman 0-2). Steals — Cal Poly 6 (Odister 2, Awich, Love, Nwaba, Shipley). Hawaii 4 (Smith 2, Spearman, Standhardinger). Blocked shots — Cal Poly 4 (Aqich, Bennett, Nwaba, Silvestri). Hawaii none. Officials — Daryl Gelinas, Tom Nally, Justin Van Duyne. A—NA.