Men's Basketball returns to the CCCAA Regional Playoffs against #11-seed Mt San Jacinto.  The Cougars, seeded #22, travel to play the Eagles this Wednesday (7:30) for their first meeting of the year.  The two foes do share four opponents on the season.  The Cougars lost to the Eagles' fellow Inland Empire Conference teams Cerro Coso and Copper Mountain back in November and December, while Mt San Jacinto split against the Cougars' Western State Conference foes, beating Pierce, and losing to Ventura.   Cuesta is one of four teams from the Western State Conference to earn a playoff bid and they are returning to the playoffs for the first time since the pandemic, while the Eagles, the IEC Runner-up, have reached the playoffs each the past two seasons, however they were eliminated during the first round both times.  This Wednesday marks the fourth time the Cougars and Eagles have met in the post-season.  Mt San Jacinto claimed victory in the initial meeting, 83-80, back in 1977, while the Cougars earned their first ever post-season win against the Eagles in 1982, 66-64, and earned a second win in 2010, 90-73.  All three games, like this Wednesday, were opening round affairs.  

This year's version is projected as an offensive showcase.  The host Eagles rank 15th in the State with 83.9 points per game, while the Cougars are just a few notches back in 24th place at 79.8.  Both teams also finished the season on a hot streak. Mt San Jacinto won 12 of its last 13 games and Cuesta took six of their last seven, including a pair of wins over fellow playoff teams.  

Both the Eagles and Cougars boast four players with double-digit scoring averages.  The Eagles are led by Freshman Guard Desean Stevens, who dominates their stat sheet and leads a four-guard attack.  Stevens led the Eagles with 21.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.6 assists and, 1.8 steals per game during the regular season.  He also gets help from Sophomore Guard Cameron Durr, who is averaging 15.5 points per game as he embarks on his second playoff run with the Eagles.  Freshmen Kyle Render and BJ Brown also add 14.3 and 11.7 points per game, respectively.  

Cuesta is led by their two pronged three-point attack of 2022 All-WSC First Team Forward Juani Dassie and Freshman Drew Ardouin.   They are the only two players in the State with more than 100 3-point field goals on the season.  Ardouin leads the team with 18.7 points per game, while Dassie puts up 16.6 nightly.  Guard Aaron Russell and Forward Mason Romano will both make a big impact on Wednesday.  Russell is second on the team with 17.7 points and leads the team with 4.0 assists per game.  Romano does all the little things for the Cougars.  He averages 13.6 points, but also leads the team in Rebounds (8.5), Steals (1.9) and Blocked Shots (1.6), while also finishing second to Russell with 3.3 assists.  Sophomores Moritz Schneider and Reumang Emagna have rotated the Cougars' fifth starting spot with Freshman Javon Jordan.  The three versatile players offer Cuesta Coach Rusty Blair a lot of options in the line-up and off the bench.