Men's Basketball Coach Rusty Blair took over the Cuesta Men's Basketball program for the 1992-93 and came face-to-face with the Ventura Basketball juggernaut.  The Pirates were the undisputed leaders in the circuit and were in the midst a ten-year run atop the Western State Conference.  It took Blair three seasons to take the Cougars from 6-23 to the WSC Crown, which he took from Ventura, who were then the defending 1995 CCCAA State Champions.  Eventually, the Pirates tried to lure Blair to Ventura, but he stayed true to his roots at Cuesta and his hometown of San Luis Obispo. Now, this Saturday (5 PM), the winningest coach in Cuesta history, across all sports, shall make his final visit to Ventura to take on the Pirates and their passionate fans, known, far and wide, as the boisterous "Ship's Crew"!  This year's version of the Pirates is 11-14 on the season and a longshot for the playoffs, while Cuesta is just a game and a half out of first place in the Western State Conference with three games left in the regular season.  The Cougars, who are in the running for a post-season berth, shall play their final home game of the 2024-25 campaign with their season finale against Santa Barbara City on February 21 at 7 PM.  

The third time was the charm for the Cougars, who needed overtime to defeat the resurgent Oxnard Condors, 71-64, for the first time in three tries this season.  It was good timing for the Cougars, who moved two games ahead of the Condors in the WSC table with three games to play.  It was clear from the get-go that the Condors' defensive focus was to contain Cuesta's stand-out Center Alessandro Perotti.  Oxnard held him to just 6-for-19 from the floor, but he turned their ploy against them.  Perotti, who is shooting 62% from the charity stripe this season, converted 9 of his 11 free throws on his way to a game-high 21 points.  Perotti also dished out three assists and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, while Freshman Forward Jozef Zlotcha was the Cougars' only other double-digit scorer with 11 points.   Cuesta is currently 17-8 on the season and boast a 6-3 record in WSC play with three games left in the regular season.