PREP BASKETBALL REGIONAL PLAYOFFS : Geary Gets Victory for Mater Dei : Division I: His rebound and dunk with two seconds left lets Monarchs escape upstart Lynwood, 67-65.

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  It was Reggie to the rescue Tuesday night for Mater Dei.

Reggie Geary, Mater Dei’s talented and often animated floor leader, rebounded a missed shot and dunked in one swoop with two seconds to play, giving the Monarchs a 67-65 victory over Lynwood in the first round of the Southern California Division I boys’ basketball regionals at Ocean View High.

Geary’s heroics came after teammate Miles Simon missed a 17-foot shot with the score tied, 65-65. Geary soared high and without missing a beat, put Mater Dei (32-1) into the second round of the regionals Thursday, when it will play host to L.A. Fremont (31-3) at the Bren Center.

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

Geary’s winning 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. Some felt City 4-A division runner-up Crenshaw, left out of the regionals, would have given Mater Dei a better game.

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, with 1:14 left after Marmet Williams made a short bank shot.

Then Lynwood decided upon some questionable strategy. The Knights elected to work for a final shot, but the ploy played right into Geary’s hands.

Geary managed to trap Lynwood guard Jamal Lawrence near midcourt with 36 seconds left. Geary stole the ball and Lawrence fouled Geary.

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

Geary made both ends of a one-and-one free-throw situation to give Mater Dei a 65-62 lead and the Monarchs finally had some breathing room. Or so it seemed.

Lynwood’s Rodney Malloy made a three-point shot with 20 seconds remaining to tie the score at 65, setting the stage for Geary.

Afterward, Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight praised Lynwood’s effort.

“Their effort should be applauded,” McKnight said. “They played without their best post man (Ware) and were coming off a blowout against Capistrano Valley. I think my team saw how poorly Lynwood played Saturday night and figured they had this game won.

“We tried to break their spirit early, but we didn’t look sharp. We missed a lot of easy shots and a lot of free throws. Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good.”

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 quarter, 18-11, and trailed by only one point going into the last quarter.

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