Mater Dei Saved by Geary in the Nick of Time, 67-65

Reggie Geary rebounded a missed shot and dunked with two seconds left, giving Mater Dei a 67-65 victory over Lynwood in the first round of the State Southern Regional Division I boys’ basketball playoffs Tuesday night at Ocean View High in Huntington Beach.

Geary’s heroics put top-ranked Mater Dei (32-1) into the second round of the regionals Thursday night against Los Angeles Fremont (31-3) at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

“No one boxed me out,” Geary said. “Miles (Simon) had a nice 17-foot jumper, but he missed. I felt good on the jump. Fortunately, the ball came right to me.”

Geary’s play spoiled an upset bid by a Lynwood team that all but quit only three days earlier in an embarrassing 69-51 loss to Capistrano Valley in the Southern Section Division I-AA title game.

Lynwood entered the regionals without one of its top players, Nathan Ware, who was sidelined with an ankle injury.

But Lynwood (25-7) gave Mater Dei all it could handle. The Knights had a 62-61 lead with 1:26 remaining after Derrick Barnes made two free throws. Mater Dei regained the lead, 63-62, on Marmet Williams’ basket with 1:14 left.

The Knights elected to work for a final shot, but Geary trapped Lynwood guard Jamal Lawrence near midcourt with 36 seconds left. Geary stole the ball and Lawrence fouled Geary.

“(Lawrence) got into a bad situation,” Geary said. “He put the ball through his legs, and I got a hand on it.”

Geary made two free throws to give Mater Dei a 65-62 lead, but Lynwood tied it on Rodney Malloy’s three-point shot with 20 seconds remaining.

Mater Dei took its biggest lead of the game, 44-33, when Geary opened the third quarter with a three-point shot, but Lynwood outscored the Monarchs in the period, 18-11, and trailed by only one point going into the last quarter.

Lynwood took control in the last quarter when Malloy scored off a high rebound to give the Knights a 58-54 lead with 5:40 remaining, and suddenly Mater Dei looked vulnerable.

Mater Dei missed four free-throws down the stretch, but the Monarchs found a way to win in a game in which they were outplayed.