Cuesta Men's Basketball is amid its longest winning streak of the season, after knocking off #20 Ventura, 71-70.   The game was tale of two halves as the Cougars controlled the game for the first 20 minutes and carried a 38-31 lead into halftime and Pirates took the lead for much of the second half.  Ventura made its adjustments and went on a 21-4 run after the intermission to take the lead, 52-42.  The Cougars eventually rallied and knotted the game at 63-all, but found themselves back down, 70-68, in the closing seconds of the contest.  Cuesta's Freshman Guard Drew Ardouin stepped back to nail a three-pointer with six seconds on the clock and to give the Cougars the lead for good, 71-70.  Ardouin scored 20 points on offense and made five steals on defense to lead the Cougars on both sides of the court, while Sophomore Forward Mason Romano posted 22 points and 13 rebounds to complete his first double-double in WSC play and seventh of the season.  The Cougars won their third straight Western State Conference game to improve to 12-12 overall and 3-5 in WSC play.

The Cougars remain four games behind local rival and WSC-leader Allan Hancock with four games to play.  The Cuesta Cagers travels to Santa Maria this Saturday (5 PM) to face the 24th-ranked Bulldogs.