Cuesta Men's Basketball took some time to figure out its identity, but with seven wins in their past eight games the Cougars seem to have it all figured out.  Tonight, Cuesta beat Santa Barbara City, 71-65, to remain a game behind loop-leading Ventura and one-game ahead of local rival Allan Hancock in the Western State Conference standings.  The visiting Vaqueros jumped out to an early lead, but Cuesta battled back to enter halftime up by one, 38-37.  The Cougars caught fire from beyond the arch in the second half, scoring six of their nine bonus shots after the intermission, and cruised to victory, 71-65.  Freshman Forward Ketan Sidhu (Seattle, WA-pict) led all scorers with 20 points, while Point Guard Japjit Gill (Union City-pict) added 13 points to go with his team-high five assists.  The Cougars recent turn-around has them at 10-12 on the season and 5-1 in the WSC.

Cuesta is slated to play three WSC contests next week.  They play at Allan Hancock in a make-up game from mid-January on Monday (5 PM) and then host the Bulldogs in SLO for their second-round meeting on Wednesday (5 PM).  Cuesta also travels to Woodland Hills on Saturday (3 PM) for a WSC game against Pierce.  The Cougars beat the Brahmas, 72-40, in their first meeting in SLO on January 19.