SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Brethren Isn’t Doubting This Thomas : Division V-AA: His late heroics give the Warriors a 44-43 victory over Chadwick for Southern Section title.

Brethren Christian is definitely living right these days.

For the second consecutive game, the Warriors’ opponents missed crucial free throws in the last minute to give Brethren forward Scott Thomas a chance to beat them.

And once again, Thomas made the most of his opportunity. His driving baseline lay up with 13 seconds left gave Brethren a 44-43 victory over Palos Verdes Chadwick Friday in the Southern Section Division V-AA final at Cypress College.

The section championship is Brethren’s first after three consecutive years of advancing to the final four. The victory touched off a wild celebration as hundreds of Brethren fans poured onto the court and mobbed Thomas and his teammates.

“We’ve been so close so many times,” Brethren point guard Richard Mendoza said. “People were saying we were chokers. But we wanted to make history and we did.”

Brethren, which came back to defeat Brentwood on Tuesday after trailing by eight in the final quarter, was nearly history with 58 seconds left, trailing 43-39. Thomas missed two free throws, but Brethren center Andy Brown grabbed the second miss and was fouled. He sank one of two to make it 43-40.

The Warriors (23-8) took their time fouling as they let the clock run down to :31. But at least they got the right guy. Chadwick junior Cameron Flack missed the front end of a one and Brethren forward Reggie Davis was fouled as he jumped for the rebound.

Davis hit both free throws to make it 43-42 with :29 left.

Brethren fouled Flack again and again he missed, but this time Chadwick’s Dylan Brown grabbed the rebound. Mendoza quickly fouled him and fouled out in the process. But Brown wasn’t any better than Flack and he clanked his shot off the back rim.

Davis rebounded and the Warriors let Thomas do the rest. He took the ball on the right wing and flew past three Chadwick defenders before laying the ball in.

“My shot had been off the whole game,” said Thomas, who made six of 14 shots, including one of four from three-point range. “I tried to rely on a lay up.”

Chadwick came down and had a chance to win it, but Neil Thakur’s rushed 18-footer in traffic was an air ball.

Thomas wasn’t the only Warrior struggling to find his shooting touch. Brethren shot only 17 of 47 for the game and Thomas’ game-winning field goal was the Warriors’ only one of the fourth quarter. Chadwick (21-8) was about as cold--shooting 16 of 43.

But both teams were even colder in the first half as they played to a 15-15 tie. Brethren missed its first six shots and went almost six minutes before scoring.

“We had a bad practice (Thursday) and I think we came out too hyped up,” Thomas said.

Davis (12 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, two steals) kept Brethren close with tenacious defense.

Once the Warriors settled down, they scored 20 points in the third quarter. But by that time, Chadwick’s Joe Giaconi had found the range. Giaconi, who was scoreless in the first half, scored 10 in the third quarter and eight more in the fourth, including four three-pointers.

But after Giaconi scored with a 1:40 left to put Chadwick ahead 43-39, he didn’t shoot again.