Jackson Saves Day for Serra, 69-67 : Division IV: His rebound and basket off a missed shot sends the Cavaliers to the state tournament.

Although Dwan Hurt made his first trip to the state championship last season, he will be able to return this week with his Serra High team.

The Cavaliers defeated San Diego Lincoln, 69-67, in the Southern California Division IV regional final Saturday night at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

“It was a lot of fun and a great experience,” Hurt said.

Hurt had mixed emotions until Akeli Jackson rebounded and scored off a missed shot by Michael Boyd with four seconds left to win the game.

“I can’t really recall what happened, I took the shot and the Adrenalin took over,” said Jackson, who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Cavaliers had broken a 59-59 tie to open a 67-62 lead with one minute 45 seconds to play, but the Hornets rallied to tie the score at 67 on a three-point basket by Joe Evans with 59 seconds to play.

Serra (25-7) will play Salinas Palma (21-11) in the state championship game on Friday in Oakland. It will be the first trip to state for Serra, which has won 17 consecutive games.

Boyd had a game-high 21 points and Arthur Tate added 10 for Serra.

The Cavaliers finished 6-18 in 1991 and lost in the first round of the Southern California regionals last season.

“It’s just tremendous what we’ve accomplished,” Jackson said. “We’ve always compare this to our 10th grade year and to go from there to this is really special.”

Serra smallest margin of victory in its past 17 games had been 16 points until Saturday. The Cavaliers were had outscored their two other regional opponents by 213-98.

“I knew we were going to get a close one sooner or later, but I didn’t think it would happen this soon,” Hurt said.

Archie Robinson and Evans had 20 and 14 points for Lincoln (29-5), which lost to Santa Clara in the final last season and had a 15-game winning streak broken.

Tate and Jackson each made short turnaround jump shots to help Serra to a 52-49 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers had trailed by eight points in the first half but rallied for a 36-35 halftime lead.

The Cavaliers trailed, 22-14, after the first quarter and 29-21 with five minutes left in the first half.

Jackson and Boyd combined for six points each during a 12-1 run to help Serra open a 34-30 lead.

Boyd, who had 13 first-half points, converted a three-point play to bring the Cavaliers to within 29-28 with 3:48 remaining in the second quarter.

Jackson tied the score, 30-30, on a dunk. The 6-foot-7 center added two free throws and scored on an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Eric Reed to increase the advantage to 34-30 with 1:22 to play before halftime.