OLIVER KIMOKEO | sports editor

Let’s take a trip to one month ago—exactly one month ago. On the morning of January 22, the men’s basketball team had a 3-4 record in GSAC and they may have been contemplating if they are the same program which has won 13 of the past 15 conference crowns.

One month ago, I accused the Cougars as being the “poster boys of inconsistence.” APU did not carry the same swagger they have had in the past and they still needed to find the right formula.

One month ago, the Cougars defeated The Master’s 68-64 in a game which seemed to be a representation of their season up to that point. APU opened the game with a 19-0 run but ended squandering the huge advantage and barely holding on to the win. Now with the perspective of the past month behind us, this game is what turned the season around.

Since that game, the Cougars have reeled in eight wins out of their nine games. They have defeated every GSAC team except Point Loma Nazarene, who swept the season series, and Vanguard, the team the Cougars will have a chance to avenge their previous loss too. In addition, they have defeated the top two GSAC teams in Concordia and Californa Baptist within the streak.

“They have really stayed tight as a group,” head coach Justin Leslie said. “Now, we are healthy and we have learned some lessons. We started to get some confidence and this team has potential to be good down the stretch.”

While there is value in analyzing our past games, it is in our best interest to put our focus on the next two weeks. The Cougars have four GSAC games left with three away from the friendly confines of Felix Event Center. One game seperates the top four teams in GSAC: Concordia (12-4 conference record), California Baptist (12-4), Vanguard (11-5) and APU (11-5).

“Playing on the road in the GSAC is a huge challenge,” Leslie said. “This is an opportunity for our guys to step up. This is what it’s going to be in the postseason. We only have, at most, two more home games. So from here on out, if we want to do anything, we have to able to win away from the Event Center.”

Tommorow, the Cougars will be facing Vanguard. This game is vital for the winner to keep pace with Concordia and California Baptist. The loser of the game will be everything except mathematically eliminated.

“Right now, if there is no [home] crowd, we have to be own crowd,” senior forward Davon Roberts said. “We got to play every game like it’s our last game.”

It is still possible for the Cougars to win the conference championship but they have to win out because Concordia and California Baptist will be winning games down the strech as well.

In the best case scenario, a Cougar win over California Baptist on Feb. 29 and a California Baptist win over Concordia on Mar. 3 should give the hypothetical three-way tiebreaker over to APU should all three teams win all the other games on their slate.

“We have to do the little things even more. Every possession counts 10 times more in away games,” senior guard Matt Oliver said.