With three seconds left, the La Salle-Peru boys basketball team inbounded the ball to Erick Sotelo in the corner.

The senior grabbed the ball and chucked up a 3-pointer.

The ball bounced off the rim and the horn sounded, sending Cavaliers players leaping off the bench into a mob on the court.

When La Salle-Peru athletic director Steve Hanson handed the L-P captains the regional championship plaque, the Cavs leapt in a mob again, chanting.

Then the L-P students stormed the court for another mob.

Three mobs for three straight titles.

The No. 2-seeded Cavaliers held on to beat No. 3 Ottawa 57-53 to win the Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional championship for their third title in a row and their second straight on their home floor.

“It feels amazing going back-to-back-to-back,” said L-P sophomore Marion Persich, who finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

It’s the first time L-P has won three regionals in a row since winning five straight from 1989-93 under hall of fame coach Chips Giovanine.

“It’s very special,” L-P coach John Senica said. “It’s another special group of kids. I’m proud of them. It’s awesome to three-peat.”

L-P (20-10) advances to play Morton (28-4) in the Ottawa Sectional at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“We’re hoping for another win,” said L-P senior Jameson Hill, who had six points and eight rebounds. “That’d be awesome to finally make it to a sectional final.”

Friday’s game was tight throughout, with the largest lead for either team being the Pirates’ 28-21 advantage late in the first half.

“I thought we battled the whole night,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “We probably led for most of the game, but the issue we’ve had with (L-P) all year popped up again tonight. We just couldn’t rebound well. We were minus-19 on the boards. It’s hard to go on the road and win a regional championship with those numbers.”

L-P’s Braylin Bond scored a three-point play to start the second half, and Sotelo followed with a drive for a basket to tie it at 28. The game stayed within four points the rest of the way until the Cavs briefly held a five-point lead with less than a minute left.

“A lot of our guys had so much energy,” Senica said. “They had to calm it down a little bit. Finally, toward the end of the game, they started to play actual basketball. Before that it was kind of street ball. We were kind of doing our own thing.

“We weren’t playing defense. We were letting them just get to the rim. We weren’t really running our offense. The last quarter we settled down and started to play basketball.”

The tide turned in L-P’s favor for good midway through the fourth quarter.

Persich received a pass on the block from Sotelo and scored to tie it at 48 with 4:16 left. Gavin Stokes hit a pull-up jumper, Persich scored off another assist from Sotelo and then drove for a bucket to make it 54-50 with 1:51 left.

“Really, it was just slowing down and playing our offense,” Persich said. “We were taking the shots that we needed. We don’t have to force anything.

“I was going down and getting on the block. I knew my defender was smaller than me, so I could get around him every time. So I was just posting up and getting around.”

The Cavs were able to run off some clock, make 3 of 6 free throws and force turnovers on Ottawa’s final two possessions to hold on despite the Pirates getting a 3-pointer from Jack Carroll to pull within 55-53 with 33.2 seconds left.

Owen Sanders led the Pirates (15-13) with a game-high 23 points and five rebounds, while Hazekiah Joachim had 11 points and three assists.

“We had a little bit of an issue with Persich late in the game,” Cooper said. “With his strength and physicality, he was able to get to the rim a few more times than we like, but give our kids credit, we hung in there and we had a chance. We just weren’t able to quite get it done.”

Friday’s game marked the end of Cooper’s tenure after leading the Pirates for 22 seasons and spending 32 years with the program. Cooper finishes as Ottawa’s all-time winningest coach at 357-234.

“It isn’t about me tonight,” Cooper said. “It’s about our five seniors (Sanders, Joachim, Colt Bryson, Dom Parks and Lucas Farabaugh) who poured it all into the program. Those are the guys I feel for this evening.”

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 33

Members of the L-P boys basketball team hoist the Class 3A Regional title plaque after defeating Ottawa on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026 in Sellett Gymnasium at L-P High School. (Scott Anderson)