Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic School’s varsity boys basketball team finished the regular season with a 7-1 record and were East Co-Divison champions with St. Patrick’s School that also finished the season at 7-1.
As the number one seed in the 3A Classification playoffs, OLL had home court advantage in the semi-final game against Our Lady of Lourdes on December 11. By halftime, the Cheetahs were ahead by 12 and won the game 43-32 led by Ulises Hernandez with 19 points, and Andres Gancedo with 10 points. OLL’s defense caused 14 turnovers.
The Cheetahs advanced to the 3A All Catholic Conference Championship game on December 14 against the St. Rose of Lima Cardinals. OLL led 19-8 in the first half, but with six minutes left, the Cardinals rallied and made a 19-8 run tying the game at 27-27.
With only 10 seconds left, coaches German Garcia and Frank Perez reminded the team of their motto this year: “One Heart, One Pulse, One Team,” saying “This is our last seconds of unity, we must be one time right now and stay together to win this game.”
The Cheetahs won 29-27 on a buzzer-beating layup shot by Hernandez. The Cheetahs became the first OLL team to win the 3A Conference title since 2009.