Geary’s Five Free Throws Rescue Mater Dei

Ocean View had Mater Dei on the ropes Saturday night.

But the Monarchs’ Reggie Geary, who had eight free-throw attempts within a 16-second span with three minutes remaining, made five of them to give visiting Mater Dei (16-1) a 64-62 nonleague victory over the Seahawks.

The Seahawks (8-5) led, 56-47, with 7:01 left after guard Bryan Knox, who led Ocean View with 23 points, sparked a 26-point burst in the third quarter. He had 16 points, including three three-pointers and three free throws when he was fouled on another three-point attempt.

Ocean View still led, 59-53, on Shawn Goodgame’s two free throws with 3:26 remaining. Geary then hit two free throws with 3:05 remaining, Mater Dei stole an inbounds pass and Marmet Williams was fouled and made a free throw to cut the Seahawks’ lead to 59-56.

Mater Dei stole another inbounds pass, Geary was fouled and the Seahawks’ Albert Fanoga was given a technical for complaining about the call. Geary missed two free throws but made the two technical shots to cut Ocean View’s lead to 59-58. Geary, who had a game-high 24 points, hit another free throw at 2:49 to tie the score.

Ocean View Coach Jim Harris was disgusted.

“That was dog meat,” he said. “We outplayed them, but we lost. We deserved that win. That had a ‘W’ written all over it. If we didn’t spend two minutes at their free-throw line we would have won at the end.”

Kamran Sufi gave the Monarchs a 62-60 lead on a three-point basket with 2:02 remaining, but Ocean View tied the score, 62-62, on Chris Blake’s two free throws with 1:32 remaining. Sophomore Miles Simon drove the baseline for the winning basket with 1:12 left, and Ocean View was unable to score.