ORANGE COUNTY BOYS’ BASKETBALL ALL-STAR GAME : Star Among Stars: Mater Dei’s Geary Leads North to Victory

After watching Mater Dei’s Reggie Geary score 23 points to lead the North to a 77-73 victory over the South in the Orange County boys’ basketball all-star game, North Coach Greg Hoffman had one observation.

“Now I know why Gary McKnight is always smiling,” Hoffman said.

McKnight smiled a lot this season. Geary, the most valuable player of Saturday’s game at Cypress College, led the Monarchs to a Southern Section championship and a trip to the State finals.

After one week of practices, Hoffman dreamed about Geary playing for him at Western.

“Reggie works hard and he’s also the best player out there,” Hoffman said. “Wow, if I could’ve had him for four years.”

But Hoffman only had him for one 40-minute game, so he let the Arizona-bound guard do everything.

Geary made six of 13 field goals, and 11 of 12 free throws. He also had game-high totals of seven assists and five steals, and a team-high six rebounds.

After the game, Bill Mulligan, the former UC Irvine basketball coach who is now coach at Irvine Valley College, told Hoffman, “The smartest thing you did was play Geary for the whole game.”

Geary played 32 minutes, and South Coach Roy Miller wished Geary had spent more time on the bench.

“As long as he had the ball, Reggie was controlling the game,” said Miller who coaches at Huntington Beach. “And we couldn’t keep the ball away from him all the time, so . . . “

The South also had problems on offense, shooting 37.7%. The South trailed, 39-28, at the end of the first half.

Although the South had a height advantage inside, with Trabuco Hills’ Gavin Vanderputten, who is 6 feet 10, and 6-7 Matt Fuerbringer of Estancia, the South trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half.

Vanderputten struggled, missing all five of his shots and scoring only two points. But he had a game-high 10 rebounds and blocked two shots.

Fuerbringer also struggled, scoring only nine points. However, Fuerbringer did convert an alley-oop pass from Laguna Beach’s Darren Gravley for a two-handed dunk that helped to start the South’s comeback.

Midway through the second half, Tustin’s Derek Roche and Marina’s Darren Crooks, who each scored nine points, sparked a run that brought the South within, 52-49.

Woodbridge’s Todd Loewe() sank a three-pointer with 9:02 remaining, drawing the South even.

The North answered when Esperanza’s Matt Kordik scored seven of his 11 points in the final 7:08 for a 65-60 lead with less than four minutes remaining.

Newport Harbor’s Justin McIntee made a three-pointer and a driving layup to cut the North’s lead to 67-65 with 2:48 remaining, but then Geary and Los Alamitos’ Jason Cunningham took over.

Geary made three of four free throws in the final 2:18, and also had two assists to Cunningham for two layups that gave the North a 75-70 lead with 37 seconds remaining.

And while Geary walked away with the MVP trophy, Hoffman credited Troy’s Jim Faletta, who had eight points and six rebounds, for making the difference down the stretch.

“He’s got a great attitude and his hustle made the difference,” Hoffman said.