SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. » In the middle of basketball season, Mike Thomas got to go home last weekend, relax and watch the Super Bowl.

The rare surprise visit to his folks’ Los Angeles-area home came with a cost — food poisoning blamed on a batch of carne asada nachos. Ill-effects aside, the stopover seemed to work wonders for Thomas as he and the Rainbow Warriors bounced back for a notable 59-56 win at Cal Poly on Thursday.

Thomas scored a career-high 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the floor and 6-for-10 from the free-throw line. He blocked three shots and Hawaii (16-8, 4-4 Big West Conference) won at the Mustangs’ Mott Athletics Center for the first time in four trips.

"I was just being aggressive, just being tough down there," said Thomas, who eclipsed his previous high of 14 and was the only Hawaii player to score in double figures. "The refs were definitely giving me calls in the beginning. So, that helped me get in rhythm and then just make layups and feed off my teammates.

"I think it was a testament to how we’re maturing. We’re getting tougher, we’re playing tougher, playing healthier and stronger, good basketball."

The victory followed the decision by the Warriors to remain on the mainland between back-to-back conference road swings when usually they might return to campus.

Hawaii coach Benjy Taylor said the players handled the extended road trip with maturity and practiced well.

Stefan Jankovic also caught a case of food poisoning and was held out for the second half after scoring four points. Aaron Valdes, the team’s leading scorer, and Garrett Nevels also were held to single digits. Roderick Bobbitt played through foul trouble, had just a single steal and remains nine short in his pursuit of the single-season program record. Quincy Smith also played just nine minutes as he was saddled with four fouls.

But the victory was enough to justify the change in flight plans.

The list of Big West arenas where Hawaii has yet to win is down to one, Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid.

"Jank was not feeling well," Taylor said. "Rod and Q got in foul trouble, but we had guys step up. We didn’t play great, but we played tough, and that’s what we talked to these guys about. You’ve got to start playing tougher this time of year, blocking out and getting rebounds and loose balls. We turned it over a little bit down the stretch. We missed the one-and-ones, but they never hung their heads."

Valdes had a chance to put the game out of reach with Hawaii leading by two, but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 19 seconds left. Cal Poly appeared to secure the rebound, but the Warriors poked it away and Bobbitt scrambled for it and ended up at the free-throw line.

He only made one of two, but Hawaii forced Mustangs point-guard Ridge Shipley, who made a game-high four 3-pointers, into an off-balance desperation 3 that missed at the buzzer.

The Mustangs were 11-for-23 from 3-point range to help keep the score close but made just four field goals from inside the arc.

Hawaii held Cal Poly’s leading scorer, David Nwaba, to just 1-for-12 from the field, and the Mustangs shot just 13.3 percent on 2-pointers.

Reese Morgan, whose sharp-shooting spurred Cal Poly to an overtime victory at Hawaii last month, scored 16 points. Shipley had 12, and forward Joel Awich had 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Valdes, Stefan Jovanovic and Isaac Fleming each had eight points for the ‘Bows.

Thursday

Hawaii 59, Cal Poly 56

CS Fullerton 69, CSUN 53

Long Beach State 68, UC Riverside 63

UC Davis 75, UC Irvine 56

Saturday

Hawaii at UC Santa Barbara, 5 p.m. (HST)

UC Irvine at Long Beach State

UC Riverside at Cal State Fullerton

UC Davis at CSUN

HAWAII 59, CAL POLY 56