Thomas Brothers Take Separate Roads to Reunion in San Luis Obispo : College basketball: Stuart and Simon, who’ve played for different basketball teams since high school, lead the Mustangs against Chapman College.

It was an amicable break-up, but all concerned thought it would be permanent.

Brothers Stuart and Simon Thomas split up in 1983, when Stuart transferred to Mater Dei High School after his freshman year at Fountain Valley. Simon, a year older, opted to stay at Fountain Valley.

The brothers met on the basketball court only once--in a junior varsity game--and their basketball careers immediately after high school continued in different directions: Stuart playing for Stanford and Simon for Rancho Santiago College.

But tonight at 8:05, the Thomas brothers will lead Cal Poly San Luis Obispo against Chapman in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. game in Orange. The unlikely basketball reunion of the brothers has been a windfall for the Mustangs (13-4 overall and 3-1 in the conference), who enter the game tied with Cal State Bakersfield for second place in the CCAA.

Stuart, a 6-foot-8 forward, is leading the team in scoring (15.4 points a game) and rebounding (6.9 a game). Simon, a 6-2 guard, is third on the team in scoring (11.8) and first in three-point shooting (26 of 46 shots).

“I never thought it would happen this way,” Simon Thomas said. “(But) now that it has, I’m pretty happy with it.”

Stuart’s route to San Luis Obispo was the rockier of the two. After two seasons at Mater Dei, where he was a member of teams that had a 59-1 record and won two Southern Section championships, he was recruited to Stanford by then-Coach Tom Davis.

Thomas said he was sold on the idea that the Cardinal could become a basketball power. Unfortunately for Thomas, before he enrolled at Stanford, Davis left to become coach at the University of Iowa.

Thomas played two years for Davis’ replacement, Mike Montgomery, but wasn’t happy with his role. At 6-feet-8, he found himself in the position of an “in-betweener,” smaller than the post players and not as quick as the wing players.

After his sophomore season, in which Stanford advanced to the National Invitation Tournament, Thomas decided he needed a change. Although he enjoyed the school, he wasn’t satisfied merely going along for the basketball ride.

“No matter how much you like a school, if you’re not having fun doing something your supposed to do, it’s not going to be as attractive to you,” Thomas said.

So he looked for a situation where he could contribute. He considered Division I schools such as UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine but decided to join his brother, who had transferred to San Luis Obispo from Rancho Santiago.

Simon had told him that he probably would be able to contribute immediately for the Mustangs and would like the school. And because the Mustangs have three players--Coby Naess (Laguna Beach), Shawn Reed (Capistrano Valley) and Tim Knowles (Mission Viejo)--from his 1986 Orange County graduating class, he thought he would feel at home.

“It wasn’t like I was going into a totally new situation because I knew the guys already,” Stuart said.

Before this season, Simon had been away from competitive basketball for two years. After starring at Rancho Santiago and accepting a scholarship at San Luis Obispo, Simon redshirted his first year and took a year off from school last year to work and make up some math requirements at nearby Cuesta College.

Now the Thomas brothers, both with two years of eligibility remaining, are helping make the Mustangs one of the favorites to win the CCAA.

Steve Beason, the Mustangs’ coach, said each contributes in a different way.

Stuart is an easy-going big man, the first true post player Beason has had in four years as San Luis Obispo coach; Simon is an intensely competitive guard.

“The only real commonality is neither one is prone to complain,” Beason said. “You tell them what you want done, and they try to do it.”

On successive nights last weekend, the two got it done for the Mustangs. Friday, Simon scored 12 of his team’s 16 points in overtime in a 84-79 victory over UC Riverside. Simon led all scorers with 27 points.

Saturday against Cal Poly Pomoma, Stuart scored 29 points as the Mustangs defeated the Broncos, 106-94.

Chapman Notes

The Panthers enter tonight’s game with a 9-8 record, 1-3 in conference. Guards Chris Martin and Von Shuler, who have missed six games since being declared academically ineligible this month, have been cleared to play and will suit up against San Luis Obispo. Chapman was 7-4 with Shuler and Martin in the lineup and 2-4 without them.