The OLLU club basketball team is making a few adjustments as their season progresses after dropping their first game to St. Philip’s College, 115-86.

“We saw some good points on the court such as having heart and playing as a team,” team captain and point guard Anthony Gomez said.  “However, there were some mistakes that we could fix and as the season progresses we can work on those.  Practicing makes perfect so we have to keep practicing.  We will not be a soft team this season.”

The team was playing on even level with SPC until the last six minutes of the game.  The team was able to use the loss as a stepping stone and looks at it as a learning experience.

“We learned not to give, to keep fighting hard,” point guard/shooting guard Robert Pedraza said.  “We’ve just got to fix the little mistakes.  We’ve got to come out strong and finish strong.”

This season, the team’s goal is to turn over a new leaf.

“This year we are not the same pushover team that the league is used to from the past,” power forward/center Derek Ezell said.

The addition of new faces on the team this season may help to achieve the team’s foremost goals: to keep its record above .500 and make a lasting appearance at this year’s post-season tournament.  More than anything, the team wants to prove that it is a team to compete with this season.

“We’ve got to prove that we can compete with these other teams,” power forward/center Danny Sommers said. “We feel that some of these other teams like Southwest, St. Philips, they take us lightly.  ‘Oh it’s just Our Lady of the Lake’ and they can just have an off and still win by 30.  Like our shirts say, ‘Same Game, New Attitude’ and that new attitude is that we’re more aggressive.  We are going to be a more unified team, so be ready.”

One of the new faces on this year’s team is head coach Frank Hernandez.  Team members cite Hernandez as one of the main reasons for the team’s new outlook.

“This whole losing mentality isn’t going to cut it anymore.  We’ve got a coach who believes in us and so we are going to go out there and perform the best that we can,” Sommers said.

The team is ready to take on the rest of its season and will play its first home game on Nov. 7 when they host San Antonio College. 

“We are not going to be a team that lets people run all over us.  We are going to finish strong at the end.  So we’ve got to prove game in and game out that we are that team,” Gomez said.