Men's Basketball split a pair of Western State Conference contests at home with a loss to #17 Ventura, 63-60, on Wednesday to end their first swing through the loop and win over Oxnard, 100-76, on Saturday to begin the second round of WSC play. The Cougars may have played the better game of the week against the ranked Pirates, who remain undefeated in conference play. Cuesta trailed the Bucs by 17 points at halftime, but came within a few seconds and a couple of defensive rebounds from knocking off the loop's top team. Cuesta closed the game on a 17-8 run, but ran out of time as the buzzer sounded before they could get off a final shot. On Saturday, Cuesta reached the "Century-Mark" for the first time this season, while completing a season sweep against Oxnard, 100-76. The Cougars came out firing and connected on a season-high 19 three-pointers, while shooting 54% from beyond the arch. Freshman Guard Jacques Safra led the Cougars with 60 points on the week and came within a single free throw of being only the 5th Cuesta player to enjoy a 40-point game since 2000. The Cougars are 9-14 on the season and 3-4 in Western State Conference play.
Men's Basketball dives deeper into the second round of its Western State Conference schedule. The Cougars have a scheduled bye on Wednesday and travel to Santa Barbara on Saturday (5 PM) to play the Vaqueros. The Cougars beat Santa Barbara City, 80-53, in their first meeting in SLO, however all of the Vaqueros' wins this year have been on their homecourt; which includes a win over Oxnard.
