DIVISION V BOYS : Brethren Has Frayed Nerves and a Victory

The Brethren Christian Warriors are going to the Southern California Division V finals Saturday.

Whether their coach or their fans will have any nerves left by then is in doubt.

Brethren Christian played its third heart-stopper in four games, but the top-seeded Warriors remained poised down the stretch again and came through with a 48-43 overtime victory over Fontana Ambassador Christian Thursday at Cypress College.

Scott Thomas hit a layup and a free throw to give Brethren a 44-42 lead with 58 seconds left, then Richard Mendoza sank four consecutive free throws in the last 22 seconds to seal it.

Brethren’s victory sets up this season’s third meeting between the Warriors and Palos Verdes Chadwick in the Division V final at 4 p.m. Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Brethren defeated Chadwick during the regular season by one and by seven points in the Southern Section Division V-AA final.

As were the section final and the three-point victory over Brentwood in the section semifinals, Thursday’s game was tight the entire way.

“I really didn’t expect a close game with these guys,” Brethren Christian Coach Richard Thomas said.

Maybe Thomas didn’t expect Ambassador Christian point guard Rick Martinez to light up his best defender, Scott Thomas, the way he did. Martinez scored 12 of Ambassador’s first 20 points in the first 11 minutes before Thomas switched to a zone defense.

“He had Scott going different ways,” Richard Thomas said. “That (matchup) didn’t quite work out.”

Martinez, who has signed a letter of intent with Wright State, was hitting from everywhere. If he wasn’t dribbling by Thomas with a slick crossover, he was bombing from NBA three-point range.

“He’s good,” said Scott Thomas, a 6-foot-3 forward. “He’s only 5-11 and I really can’t quite stay down that low.”

So Richard Thomas surrendered and switched to a 2-3 zone defense with five minutes left until halftime. Thomas positioned guards Seth Carey and Mendoza at the top and had Reggie Davis or Thomas follow Martinez when he moved to the wings.

Martinez nailed one more three-pointer before halftime, but he only had one field goal in three attempts and four free throws in the second half.

“We tried to go where (Martinez) was,” Mendoza said. “We concentrated on him and No. 4 (Donovan Stewart) and left the other three open.”

The gamble paid off. Stewart, a 6-3 sophomore forward, and Martinez were the only Ambassador players looking at the basket. Stewart (15 points, eight rebounds) and Martinez (22 points, three rebounds, three steals, four assists) had all but six of the Dawgs’ points. Freshman forward Steve Lawrence had the other six.

In contrast, the Warriors had balanced scoring--Thomas scored 15 points, center Andy Brown had 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds and Mendoza had 10 points.

But Brown was the reason Brethren made it to overtime. He scored five of Brethren’s last seven points in regulation, including two baskets on power moves around Ambassador junior center Mark Cadena.

“I haven’t had a game in a while,” Brown said. “I wanted this one.”