ALLEN PARK – It was a big Catholic League boys hoops affair on Thursday night when Cabrini welcomed in Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes for the first of two much-anticipated matchups this season.

Lakes came in having alternated wins and losses through each of their first five contests, amounting to a 2-3 start to the campaign while looking to rebound from a loss vs Bloomfield Hills Roeper their last time out.

Cabrini meanwhile is enjoying one of their better starts to a season in program history, having won their first six games by an average of just over 15 points.

It was a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle between the co-champions of the Intersectional 2 Division a year ago. The first contest of this winter’s season series ended with the host Monarchs coming out on top, 59-50, thanks to a late rallying effort.

“Well, the first half was a ton of turnovers, poor shot selections, and we just couldn’t hit free throws,” Cabrini head coach Joseph Osmulski said after the win. “In the second half, I think we only had like five turnovers at the most. Made our shots, made our free throws, played great defense.

“Everything we put in at halftime, they executed to pull this one out.”

The sentiments from Osmulski proved to be valid after his Cabrini team found themselves trailing going into halftime and needed a huge second half to remain perfect on the season.

“I just kind of told them, ‘you know, we’re 6-0, and if you want to be 7-0 and you want to hit our goals, tonight’s a good night to do it,’” Osmulski explained. “Credit to them, they came out and took the challenge.
So that was a good thing.”

It was Lakes who came out hot early on Thursday, jumping out to a 6-0 lead that spanned over four minutes in the first quarter. Cabrini eventually caught fire themselves, ending the opening stanza with an 11-5 stretch to knot the game up at 11 all after one.

The second quarter was all Lakers, who put together their best stretch of the night with 17 points in the frame. If not for an Evan Bergdoll three-pointer at the buzzer, it would have been a near double-digit lead for the visitors, who instead settled for a 28-22 lead going into the intermission.

Coming out of the half, it was a fever dream of runs with both teams trading blow after blow.

The Bergdoll triple before halftime kick-started what was 11 unanswered for Cabrini to take a two-point lead, only for WOLL to respond with a 9-0 stretch of their own.

The Monarchs, though, countered back again with an 11-0 spurt, capping off what was a 19-point third quarter and taking a 41-37 lead into the final frame.

In the fourth, the hosts held tight to their lead, not letting their conference rivals get back in the game while extending the margin in the process en route to a seventh straight win to open the campaign.

“We played hard,” Lakes head coach  Michael Miller said. “We missed some shots late, and got a few bad breaks going the wrong way, and the game turned from one or two points to seven or eight pretty quick.

“So tough to come back from that.”

In a victorious effort, leading the way for Cabrini was senior Lander Emerick with 17 points. His fellow classmate Bergdoll finished with 14 points, while junior Noah Roman joined each of them in double figures with 11 points. That trio of Monarchs combined to sink six of the team’s eight made threes on the night.

For WOLL, senior Jack Miller and junior Lukas Tedder combined for 43 of the team’s 50 points in the loss. The former led all scorers in the contest with 23 points.

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Cabrini (7-0, 2-0 CHSL-Intersectional 2) will get a long break before they play host to Detroit Universal Academy on Jan 5.

It is a much-needed break for the Monarchs, says Osmulski.

“Well, first off, most of our team’s football guys,” Osmulski said. “So we need to get a nice break after the run they had. But we just got to keep the mojo going.

This is the first time the school’s ever been 7-0,” Osmulski continued. “And the boys want to win, so we just got to keep it going.”

For Lakes (2-4, 1-1 CHSL-Intersectional 2), they are going to look at bouncing back after a long break as well when they go on the road to face Clawson on Jan. 6.

For coach Miller and the Lakers, it is about finding their consistency.

“We’ve had some scratches all year long,” Miller said. “We’ve had some few good minutes here, a few good minutes there, and then we have lows where we don’t play as well. I thought today we played much better for a full game, so I think that’s going to serve as well moving forward.”

Photo gallery of Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes vs Allen Park Cabrini in a CHSL boys hoops matchup

The regular season co-champions of the Catholic League’s Intersectional 2 Division from a year ago held their first of two scheduled matchups this season Thursday night when Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes trekked down to Allen Park Cabrini.

Lakes came in having traded wins and losses through each of their first five contests, amounting to a 2-3 start to the campaign and hoping to rebound from a loss vs Bloomfield Hills Roeper their last time out.

Cabrini meanwhile is enjoying one of their better starts to a season in program history, having won their first six games by an average of just over 15 points.

A strong second half ultimately helped the hometown Monarchs rally back and remain undefeated with a 59-50 victory over the visiting Lakers.

Photo gallery is courtesy of Cory Linsner.