By Lisa Morales - Our Lady of the Lakes School
Top row, from left: Coach German Garcia, Dominic Carballo (8th), Alden Brutus (7th), Andres Vega (8th), Alejandro Llano (8th), Darley Charles (7th), Ulises Hernandez Iii (8th), Fernando Santamarta (8th), Justin Quintana (7th) Coach Frank Perez. Bottom row from left: Matthew Saenz (8th), Andres Gancedo (8th), Daniel Diaz (8th), Frank Perez Jr. (7th), Ethan Cueli (8th), Adrian Carballo (7th), Paolo Jebian (7th).
MIAMI LAKES | Our Lady of the Lakes School's varsity boys basketball team finished the regular season with a record of 7-1, making them East Division co-champions with St. Patrick School in Miami Beach, which also finished the season at 7-1.
As the number one seed in the 3A Classification playoffs, the Our Lady of the Lakes team had home court advantage in the Dec. 11 semifinal game versus Our Lady of Lourdes' Jaguars. By halftime, the Cheetahs were ahead by 12 and won the game 43-32. The team was led by Ulises Hernandez III (grade eight) who had 19 points, and Andres Gancedo (grade eight) who had 10 points. Team defense resulted in 14 turnovers.
On Dec. 14, the Cheetahs played the championship game versus the St. Rose of Lima Cardinals. In the first half, the Cheetahs led 19-8, but with six minutes left in the game, the Cardinals rallied from behind and made a 19-8 run, tying the game at 27-27. With only 10 seconds left in the game, coaches German Garcia and Frank Perez reminded the Lakes players of their motto this year: "One Heart, One Pulse, One Team," saying, “These are our last seconds of unity, we must be one team right now, and stay together to win this game.”
These words inspired the Cheetahs to win the game 29-27 with a shot by Alejandro Llano (grade eight)
and Andres Vega (grade eight) that set a pick for Ulises Hernandez III, who penetrated to the right of the basket and made a lay-up as the
buzzer sounded. By clinching the 2014 3A All Catholic Conference Championship, the boys became the first OLL team to win the title since 2009.
