One More Time for Brethren Christian : Division V boys: Warriors win another close one, 47-46 in overtime, running season record against Palos Verdes Chadwick to 3-0.

Brethren Christian’s basketball team has been close to the end lately--trailing late in three of its last four games. But somehow, the Warriors always found a way to come back and win.

Brethren point guard Richard Mendoza sensed this time was different.

“I was wondering if we had another one in there,” he said. “I thought we were all out of comebacks.”

Fortunately for Brethren, Mendoza underestimated himself and his team.

Top-seeded Brethren, largely behind Mendoza’s leadership, came back from an 11-point deficit in the last six minutes to stun Palos Verdes Chadwick, 47-46, in overtime and win the Southern California Division V boys’ championship in front of 2,500 Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Brethren (26-7), which beat Chadwick for the third time this season, advanced to the Division V State championship game Saturday in Oakland against Emeryville Emery (26-5), which defeated Ross Branson, 60-35, in the Northern California championship.

Mendoza’s two three-pointers trimmed the Chadwick lead, from 42-37 with 3:05 left in regulation to 44-43 with 1:51 remaining. Then, with Brethren still trailing by one, Mendoza drove the lane and fed forward Reggie Davis, who was fouled as he attempted an off-balance shot that missed badly off the top of the backboard. With one second left, Davis sank his first free throw but missed the second, and the game went into overtime.

With the score tied, 46-46, in overtime and the clock running down to less than 10 seconds, Mendoza drove through the teeth of Chadwick’s stingy zone and was fouled by Joe Giaconi as he reached the lane.

“I looked at (the referee) and thought he might call a charge,” said a grinning Mendoza, who finished with 10 points, three rebounds and five assists. “But (Giaconi) got over there at the last second.”

Mendoza made the first free throw but missed the second. The rebound was tipped around and grabbed by Chadwick, but Davis intercepted a pass at midcourt as time ran out, and the Warriors had done the improbable again.

They had overcome miserable shooting (15 of 45 on field goals), a lethargic stretch where they went almost eight minutes without a point, and an uninspired effort on the backboards; they were outrebounded, 39-30.

“They were getting all the rebounds, all the loose balls, and we couldn’t do anything,” Mendoza said. “I think we thought we wouldn’t have to work for it, that they were going to give it to us.”

Chadwick, which lost a heartbreaking 44-43 game to Brethren in the Southern Section championship game, was anything but generous Saturday. The Dolphins (23-9) recovered from a slow start--they trailed 8-0--to take leads of 12-11 and 22-20 after the first and second quarters.

They stretched the lead to 39-30 after three quarters, as Brethren made only three of 12 shots in the quarter. Mendoza was 0 for 4 in the quarter, including an airball from three-point range.

Chadwick--17 for 47 field-goal shooting--wasn’t hitting many of its perimeter shots, either, as Giaconi was 0 for 7 from three-point land. But the Dolphins were slipping inside for offensive rebounds and follow shots. And after Dylan Brown (10 points, seven rebounds) nailed an eight-foot baseline jumper to open the fourth quarter, Brethren found itself down, 41-30.

Thomas (15 points, seven rebounds, five assists), who scored only four points in the first half, started becoming more aggressive offensively and brought the Warriors to within 42-37 with 3:06 remaining, scoring five points in a two-minute span.

Still, Brethren trailed by five, and no one but Thomas could hit a shot or was willing to take one . . . until Mendoza received a lecture from his coach, Richard Thomas, during a timeout.

“He had passed up a couple of opportunities,” Richard Thomas said. “I said, ‘Come on, Rich, start shooting.’ He felt it at the time and the rest is history.”

Forgive Chadwick Coach Tom Maier if he would rather erase history.

“This (loss) was tougher than the sectionals, because then at least we had a second chance,” said a surprisingly composed Maier. “We had a lead, we just couldn’t sustain it.”

The Brethren players walked over to the Chadwick bench afterward to try consoling the Dolphin players.

“I didn’t know what to say to them,” Mendoza said. “I don’t think they wanted us over there. I can’t even imagine how they must feel.”