Cuesta Men's Basketball Star Jacques Safra (Zurich, SUI) has signed a scholarship to continue his collegiate career with Mayville State in North Dakota. The Comets compete at the NAIA level and are a member of the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA). Safra is joining a Mayville State team that posted a 14-5 record last season and won the NSAA conference title.
The Cougars' Swiss Guard, Jacques Safra (Zurich, SUI) established himself as one of the best student-athletes to ever play for the Cougars. Safra burst onto the scene as a freshman and led the Cougars in scoring with 17.2 points per game (14th All Time at Cuesta). He was named to the 2020 All-Western State Conference (WSC) First Team and was basketball's nominee for Cuesta's Outstanding Athlete of the Year Award. This year, Safra returned to Cuesta for his sophomore season, however his campaign was marred by both injury and the pandemic. He was limited to only one start over three games during the Cougars' shortened season. He scored only nine points, in limited time, over his first two contests, but returned to start in the season finale. Safra capped his Cuesta career with 29-points, on 70% shooting, against #1-ranked Sequoias. Coach Rusty Blair said, "Jacques was a warrior for us, always leaving everything he had on the floor. A very resilient, selfless, hard-nosed individual who always led by example in practice and games. He perfected his craft when others weren't watching, and really blossomed at the end of the year." Safra also excelled in the classroom and, after four semesters on the Cuesta Athletic Honor Roll, he was honored as Cuesta College's Warren Hansen Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2020-21.
Safra joins a long list of former Cuesta players to move on to the four-year level. Coach Rusty Blair's program is an established proving ground for talented scholar-athletes and has sent over 100 athletes onto the four-year level since the early 1990's.
