Cuesta Men's Basketball came out strong to open their 2026 Western State Conference schedule against Allan Hancock, a rival local that has been in and out of the regional polls this season.  The Cougars, who began the season 0-6, entered the game with two wins over their past three games and a bye on Wednesday, when conference play began.  Cuesta came out fresh and pushed the Bulldogs to open the game.  Freshman Guard Evan Lin's sharpshooting ignited the Cougars with a team-high eight points before the intermission, while on his way to a team-high 15 points. The Cougars were down by only one shot, 28-25, going into the second half, but the Bulldogs added another dozen points to their lead before the final buzzer and took the contest, 69-54.  All-WSC Guard Corbin Rossi and Aussie Guard James Nugent (pict) joined Lin in boasting double-digit scoring on the night.  Rossi posted 11 points, including the game's only dunks, and Nugent came off the bench with a dozen more tallies.  The setback drops the Cougars to 5-12 on the season and 0-1 in WSC play.   

 

The Cougars shall dig deeper into their WSC schedule when they travel to play Moorpark next Wednesday (5 PM).  The Raiders, who landed the final spot (#20), joined Allan Hancock (#18) and fellow WSC team Ventura (#12), among the State's Top 20 in the 2025-26 3C2A Pre-season Poll.