Another Hurt in for Certain : Division IV: This year, it is Dwan Hurt’s turn to coach in a championship game. The Serra boys’ coach watched his brother Cedric coach the Bishop Montgomery girls in the 1992 Division II title game.

Dwan and Cedric Hurt are gearing for their second trip to the state basketball championships this weekend.

Last season, Dwan, the boys’ basketball coach at Serra High, was a spectator while brother Cedric coached the Bishop Montgomery girls’ team in the State Division II championship game.

Their roles will be reversed this weekend.

Cedric will be in the stands this time. Bishop Montgomery, which had advanced to the finals of the Southern Section girls’ playoffs in 1991 and ‘92, lost in the first round of the playoffs this season.

Dwan’s team advanced by beating San Diego Lincoln, 69-67, on a last-second shot by center Akeli Jackson in the Southern California Division IV regional final Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Serra (25-7) will play defending champion Palma of Salinas (21-11) in the Division IV title game at the Oakland Coliseum Arena at 4:15 p.m. Friday.

“They were the team I watched before my brother’s game,” Dwan said about Palma, which beat Lincoln in last season’s championship. “Throughout the game, I was picturing in my mind that could have been us playing them. This is like a dream come true.”

After an 8-7 start, it’s turned into a dream season for Serra, which enters the championship with a 17-game winning streak.

Serra defeated Verbum Dei in the Southern Section Division IV-A final March 6 to win its first section championship in three tries after losing to Crossroads last season and Mater Dei in the 5-A final in 1986.

The Cavaliers, who were eliminated in the semifinals last season, breezed into the regional final with 112-45 and 101-53 victories over San Diego Clairemont and Corcoran. Now Serra, making its first appearance in a state title game, also has a chance to equal a seven-year school record for most consecutive victories.

“Coach told us all about last year and that we could have won if we were there,” Jackson said. “Playing the defending champions is the least of our worries. We’re going to the game with an open mind. We can’t think about what they did last season.”

It’s hard to imagine where Serra would be without Jackson, a 6-foot-8 senior who is averaging 23.6 points and a South Bay-leading 14.1 rebounds.

Six-foot-5 senior forwards Michael Boyd and Arthur Tate are averaging 22.4 and 16.7 points each. Senior guard Roderick Swift (6-1) is averaging 11.6 points and 8.9 assists.

Serra has averaged 86.3 points in its past 17 games in which it has an average margin of victory of 40.3 points. Until Saturday’s regional final against Lincoln, the Cavaliers’ smallest margin of victory has been 16 points in the Southern Section championship against Verbum Dei.

“We knew we were in for a game after the first quarter Saturday,” said Swift, a senior guard. “We didn’t panic because of what we went through earlier in the year. We knew we could outlast them.”

Playing in the Tournament of Champions and the Artesia tournament, the Cavaliers suffered losses to Artesia and Morningside, the defending State Division II and III champions, and another to two-time City Section 4-A Division champion Westchester.

But that was before the addition of senior point guard Alex Davis (6-0), an All-Southern Section Division IV first-team selection who transferred to Serra from St. Monica in January.

“We were frustrated and discouraged in the beginning,” said Boyd, who had a game-high 21 points against Lincoln. “We were still coming together and trying to get over the hump. We’re like a family, we’ve had our ups and downs, but now all that hard work has finally been justified.”

Palma also got off to a slow start, but for another reason. Four of its five starters were members of the football team, which was the top-ranked Division III team in Northern California by Cal-Hi Sports.

The Chieftains, who have advanced to the Central Coast championship in four of the past six seasons, have won 11 of their past 12 games.

Joey Diaz, a 6-5, 255-pound center who averages 14 points, is the only returning starter. Junior forwards Jeff Pluta (6-1), who scored 23 in a 60-46 victory over Bret Harte of Angels Camp in the first round, and Mike Castagnetto (6-0) average 9.8 and 9.5 points, respectively.

Senior Casey Kelly (5-11) and sophomore Tommy Nunes (5-11) complete the starting lineup. Marc Matock, a 6-3 junior, is the team’s top reserve.

The Chieftains beat top-seeded Santa Rosa Cardinal Newman, 49-48, in the semifinals and San Jose Archbishop Mitty, 30-27, in the Northern California final. Palma has not given up more than 48 points in its six postseason games, but Coach Greg Scattini acknowledges that the Chieftains will be pressed to achieve the feat against Serra.

“State champion or not, we’re not the same team as last year,” Scattini said. “It’s amazing that we’re even here. We’ve beaten some teams that we should have lost to by controlling the tempo. We need to play each ball possession like a chess game against Serra.”