Alex Franco

Sports Editor

While most of us were home enjoying our winter breaks, the San   Marcos men’s basketball team took it upon themselves to continue their torrid pace and climb to the top of the NAIA national rankings.

The Cougars have went on an impressive run since the start of break, going a perfect 8-0, improving to 15-4 on the season, in the midst of an eight game winning streak that they will look to keep alive this Wednesday against Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego. All eight of the Cougar’s wins during the streak have been convincing wins, not allowing more than 64 points to any opponent and averaging 80 points per win. The streak includes an impressive win against at-the-time No. 5 ranked Westmont College and currently No. 7, 66-52 at home.

As a result of the Cougar’s tremendous string of victories, they have climbed up to a No. 8 ranking in the country, the school’s highest ranking in the NAIA coaches poll to date. The last time the cougars cracked the top 10 was earlier this season when they were ranked ninth but loss the next game to defending champion Concordia. CSUSM has bounced back immensely since the defeat and hasn’t looked back winning 11 of the last 12 games with the afore mentioned streak.

Leading the way for the CSUSM team this season has been senior guard, AJ Gaspora who leads the team in points per game and 3 point percentage, 20.3 and .516 percent respectively. Fellow senior forward, Ali Langford who is second on the team in points with 15.0 points per game, and leads the team in rebounding with 5.8 per game. Langford also shoots an astounding .569 from the field which is among tops on the team.

With only three home games remaining on the schedule, don’t miss a chance to see the Cougars in action as they attempt to keep the streak alive and garner their first national title in school history. The next home games are Jan. 25 and 31 against UC Santa Cruz and La Sierra, both games start at 7:30 p.m.