In four years of high school, Gwynn Park senior Marcel Boyd has grown over five inches. It may not seem like a lot, but when you were a 6-foot-4 freshman, it makes you a very tall teenager. Boyd is 6-9, wears a 16 size shoe and has a wingspan of roughly 7-1. (It was a 7-foot last year and he guesses it’s only gotten longer.)
Against a much-improved Potomac (Md.) team on Friday night, the Howard recruit powered the sixteenth-ranked Yellow Jackets with a strong defensive effort in a 61-55 win over the Wolverines in Brandywine.
(Mark Gail/The Washington Post) - Gwynn Park's Xavier Richards gets an easy layup in the first quarter as Potomac's Davon Williams looks on.
Boyd readily admits his offensive game is still developing, though his size alone makes him the frequent target of double-teams in the post. Still, he chipped in 11 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked six shots in a game that avenged a previous loss to Potomac.
“If my offense doesn’t fall, I just try to play as hard as I can on defense and help my team win,” he said.
Paired with Gwynn Park forward Xavier Richards, the Yellows Jackets have a strong front-court duo. Richards, a 6-foot-1 senior with tremendous leaping ability, had a team-high 16 points to help Gwynn Park (14-4, 13-1) jump out to a 16-8 first-quarter lead.
Boyd was a constant defensive presence, putting back teammates’ misses and displaying an adept passing feel out of the post when double-teamed. It was an impressive showing for a player who didn’t even start last season.
“He’s just done such a good job of progressing,” Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick said. “There’s a saying, an old adage that big men take a bit longer to develop and it’s absolutely true in his case. What’s changed with Marcel is approach to the game and his seriousness.”
Added Boyd: “I’m kind of getting more comfortable and getting more used to my body and developing.”
By halftime, the Yellow Jackets led 26-20 and appeared poised to pull away in the third quarter. But a 13-point lead with 5:38 left was whittled down to two points with 1:55 left by the Wolverines (12-6, 10-4), behind standout sophomore guard Dion Wiley (22 points).
But senior guard Jarvis Hawkins, Boyd and Richards all made key plays in the final minutes to help secure the victory.
The win helps Gwynn Park keep pace with No. 19 Largo at the top of the Prince George’s 3A/2A/1A league.
“It was just determination,” Boyd said. “They beat us the first time. And I’m so determined to make it to the county championships.”
With 1:31 remaining in the fourth quarter on Friday night, the Gwynn Park High School boys’ basketball team appeared on the verge of collapsing. The Yellow Jackets were clinging to a two-point lead that had been 13 four minutes earlier, had no timeouts and committed three consecutive turnovers.
All this against visiting Potomac — the only team in the Prince George’s County 3A/2A/1A League to beat the Yellow Jackets this season.
Gwynn Park’s next two plays, however, were sensational, and the Yellow Jackets’ 61-55 victory helped turn the race for the league’s top seed into a two-team battle: Gwynn Park against Largo.
“Great win. Resilient win. It’s only going to make us better for the playoffs,” said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. “We have to maintain pace with the teams in our region and Largo in our league.”
Following Gwynn Park’s final time out, 6-foot-9 senior Marcel Boyd caught the ball in the low post and fed senior guard Jarvis Hawkins on a backdoor cut, easily beating Potomac’s pressure defense for the layup.
In doing so, Boyd and Hawkins accomplished what the offense had failed to for a majority of the fourth quarter by crisply executing a set play. The bucket gave Gwynn Park (14-4, 13-1) a 55-51 lead. Following a missed jumper by Potomac’s Mark Givens, senior guard Xavier Richards completed a wild right-handed scoop/runner in the lane to increase Gwynn Park’s lead to six with 1:14 remaining. That late-game precision boosted Gwynn Park to its 10th consecutive victory while the Wolverines (12-6, 10-4) had their five-game winning streak snapped.
“We stayed calm throughout the fourth quarter,” Richards said. “That’s really about it. We tried to stay calm and play to our abilities.”
Richards, the 6-foot-2 guard with you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it jumping abilities, finished with a team-high 16 points, Hawkins had 14 (all in the second half) and Boyd finished with a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks).
“[Potomac was] talking a little trash before the game about how they owned us and how we couldn’t beat them,” Boyd said. “I wanted to go out there and impose our will on them and show them we’re still the team to beat.”
The Yellow Jackets amassed their largest lead, 51-38, with 5:24 remaining, only to see Potomac score 13 of the next 15 points. Even so, Gwynn Park’s shot selection was above average in the second half as Glick’s squad converted 14 of its 22 attempts in the final 16 minutes and finished the game shooting 48.9 percent from the floor (24 of 49).
“We can do big things,” Richards said. “We’ve got good team chemistry. We make things great around here.”
Potomac’s sophomore sensation Dion Wiley led all scorers with 22 points (six 3-pointers). Despite Gwynn Park’s best defensive efforts — tight man-to-man, a box-and-1, aggressive step-outs — Wiley still scored more than a third of his team’s points.
“He’s the best sophomore in our league and one of the best players in our league,” Glick said. “He’s got to be one of the best sophomores in the DMV. “I thought we did a very poor job guarding him from the very first play of the game to the end.”
The Wolverines missed five of their six fourth-quarter free throws, and with the loss likely dropped out of contention for one of the league’s top two spots. Still, after four wins last season, first-year coach Renard Johnson is pleased with the progress in 2012.
“I can’t be disappointed in a loss like this,” Johnson said. “Not just because Gwynn Park is good, but the teams were evenly matched, we were on their home floor, we took their best shot and we put ourselves in a winning position at the end.”
As players filed out of Gwynn Park’s locker room following the game, two assistant coaches could be overheard dissecting the opponent.
“They’re deep. They’re really talented,” one said.
“I wouldn’t want to face them again,” replied the other.
The Yellow Jackets won’t have to, as the teams go to separate regional tournaments — Potomac to the 3A South and Gwynn Park to the 2A South. Glick concurred with his coaching staff.
“They’ve given us the hardest time of anybody in our league,” he said of Potomac. “They’ve done a tremendous job of turning the program around. I’m just happy they’re in 3A.”
Gwynn Park seniorcenter Marcel Boyd provided his usual production on the defensive end and in the offensive low post, but the team utilizing him as a decoy helped put the Yellow Jackets past Potomac Friday night.
Leading by two with less than two minutes remaining, Boyd provided two assists leading to four crucial points as Gwynn Park held off Potomac 61-55.
The 13-point lead that Gwynn Park enjoyed midway through the fourth quarter suddenly shrunk to two points late in the game. Coach Mike Glick called a timeout, and he knew that his team’s offense, which had suddenly gone stagnant, needed a jolt.
Leading 53-51, Gwynn Park (14-4, 13-1 Prince George’s 3A/2A/1A) quickly broke Potomac’s full-court press. Like several other instances in the game, they looked to Boyd to make a play in the post. Instead of looking for his own shot, Boyd dished it to a cutting Jarvis Hawkins for a momentum-shifting layup to put the Yellow Jackets ahead by four. After getting a defensive stop, they would repeat this tactic on an inbounds play with Boyd giving it to fellow senior Xavier Richards who made the layup while being fouled.
Boyd, the 6-foot-9 Howard commit, provided a steady force in the low post on both ends of the court, tallying 11 points, 16 rebounds, and six blocked shots. For Potomac coach Renard Johnson, it was difficult to prepare for such an imposing player.
“He’s a true big man,” Johnson said. “We haven’t really faced a guy like him the whole year. I wish him well next year at Howard University. They’re very fortunate to have him.”
Despite Boyd’s modest offensive output, Glick says that the way shorter opponents play him in the league inhibits his ability to succeed on the offensive end.
“He’s probably one of the biggest underrated big men in our area,” Glick said. “He doesn’t have as bad an offensive game as people think, but everybody’s game plan is to [double-team] him so we just try to make him into a better passer.”
Potomac standout sophomore Dion Wiley proved to be just as much of a problem for Gwynn Park. Wiley scored a game-high 22 points – including making six of 14 from the three-point line – and added eight rebounds.
“He’s probably one of the best sophomores in the [area],” Glick said. “I thought we did a very poor job guarding him from the first play of the game to the very end.”
Richards would also post a double-double with a team-high 16 points, as well as 10 rebounds and four blocks. After being shut out in the first half, Hawkins provided 14 critical points off the bench.
Gwynn Park looked to pull away from Potomac during the second half, but Potomac (12-6, 10-4) would not go away quietly. After falling behind by 12- and 13-point deficits in the second half, the Wolverines would battle back each time, including going on a 13-2 run in the fourth quarter. After seeing his team suffer its only league loss to the Wolverines earlier in the year, Glick knew that they would be a tough out.
“They’ve given us the hardest time of anybody in our league,” Glick said. They’ve done a tremendous job with turning the program around in one year and I’m just happy that they’re in 3A.”
However, Potomac could not overcome a poor performance from the free-throw line. Shooting 62 percent from the line this year, the Wolverines only made five of 14 attempts from the charity stripe, including just one-for-eight in the second half. With the Wolverines down by five, Dondre Brandon was fouled behind the three-point arc, and he only made one of the three foul shots.
“When you make a run on the road trying to come back in the game, sometimes you lose a little focus, and that’s when you miss foul shots,” Johnson said.
With the win, Gwynn Park maintains control of its destiny for a first-round bye in the 2A South playoff tournament and stays on top of the league standings, tied with Largo (15-3, 13-1).
“This helps us because we want to get that bye in the playoffs, but at the same time we just need to get better every day,” Boyd said. “It’s tough because you can be in any situation and still lose in the playoffs.”
Recruit Report: Gwynn Park Pull Away From Douglass
By ERIK LARSON, DMV Elite Director of Scouting
Gwynn Park entered Tuesday nights match up with a young but energetic Douglass team on top of PG County 3/2/1A Division. After a great defensive effort, they left with their first place status in tact by putting up 64 points and holding Douglass to 44. Key performers were Xavier Richards (18 points, 12 rebounds), Jarvis Hawkins (13 points), and Marcel Boyd (10 points, 12 rebounds). The game Douglass squad kept the score close much of the game, but was unable to make a late run. Douglass was led by Micheal Cunningham (10 points), Saquan Epps-Walker (8 points) and Trevor Johnson (8 points). Here are their evaluations:
GWYNN PARK
Xavier Richards 6'2 W 2012- Xavier is an exciting player with an evolving game. Athletically, he is great. He is strong, fast, and can finish above the rim. He had four dunks, one of them being an alley oop, on Tuesday. He has the ability to attack the rim off of the dribble and score inside on post ups. Defensively, he can defend quality players and cause turnovers in trap situations. He also competes on the boards on both ends of the floor. To improve, Xavier needs to add jump shooting to his scoring repertoire. Avoiding being over aggressive on his basket drives is also important so he doesn't rack up charges. Xavier is late to the scene, but may become a major player his senior year. He has the athleticism and toughness to play on the low D1 level.
Jarvis Hawkins 6'4 F 2012- Jarvis is an athletic forward that does a lot of things well. He is fast, can stay in front of his man on defense and his long arms make him useful when trapping. He can shoot the ball from 3 point range and finish on the break. He does need to add strength and bulk, this will make him more effective in all of his current strengths. He also can improve in ball handling, allowing him to have more scoring opportunities. Jarvis will be a very good D3 player. If he has a really strong finish to the end of his senior campaign, there is a chance he can get a few D2 looks.
Marcel Boyd 6'9 F/C 2012 (Committed to Howard University)- Marcel has improved immensely since he arrive at Gwynn Park as a sophomore. He has increased his strength, athleticsm and overall effectiveness. His ability to rebound and block shots is what seperates him from a lot of big men. He has also improved his offensive game with good post ups, passing and finishing. He still needs to become more proficient with his left hand and should look to strengthen his hands. He does need to get his footwork tighter and be consistently active throughout the game. Marcel is committed to Howard, adding to the list of DMV members on the Bison squad. He has the ability to be very effective there. Look for him to be among the MEAC Conference leaders in block shots early in his career.
Wednesday, January 18
Gwynn Park's Hawkins Drops 30 in 65-56 victory @ Friendly
DMVElite News
Gwynn Park's Hawkins Drops 30
By STEPHEN D. RILEY
FORT WASHINGTON – The inside of the Friendly Patriots’ gymnasium is hot. Even on a mild day where the audience barely fills the stands, it’s a warm place to be. And when the stands are filled to capacity, there aren’t too many things hotter.
Unless you’re a guard by the name of Jarvis Hawkins. In his first game as a reserve, the senior had the best night of his career as he led the Gwynn Park Yellow Jackets with 30 points, seven rebounds, seven steals and five assists in a come-from-behind 65-56 victory over rival Friendly on Tuesday night.
After Friendly guard Jordan Gaither nailed a desperation halfcourt shot to put the Patriots up 26-12 after the first quarter, it appeared as if the Patriots would run away with the game. But Gwynn Park refocused and responded with a stout defensive performance in the second quarter, holding Friendly to just seven points.
“I thought the key to the game for us was our defensive pressure,” Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick said. “The key part of the game was that second quarter. We were able to get back into the game with our pressure.”
Behind Hawkins, Gwynn Park was able to outscore Friendly 17-7 in that pivotal second quarter, allowing them to go into halftime down just four points after a chilly start. But Hawkins saved his best for the second half where the guard officially put out his calling card for all colleges with a next-level performance. Hawkins was Mr. All Everything for the Jackets, notching steals, collecting rebounds and baskets at an alarming rate. By the time the third quarter ended, the Jackets had a one-point lead at 47-46 and Hawkins next spectacular play would shift the momentum completely.
With Gwynn Park leading 53-49, Hawkins received the ball at the top of the three point line, shook his defender with an in-and-out dribble and finished off the glass with a contorted layup before staring at a roaring Yellow Jacket section.
The play zapped the fan support from the Friendly faithful and forced Patriots head coach Mark Edwards to burn a timeout to collect the minds of his troops. But Gwynn Park guard Jalen Harris nailed a three on the Jackets’ next possession to push the lead to nine and the Patriots were done.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game,” Hawkins said. “We came today ready to play.”
For much of the season, Gwynn Park coaches have been down on Hawkins for a lackadaisical effort. In an effort to light a fire under Hawkins, Glick decided to bring him off the bench for Tuesday’s game and the results were excellent.
When informed that Hawkins scored 30 points, Glick’s face lit up.
“Did he? Wow!” an excited Glick asked. “It’s the first game he’s come off the bench this season. He’s been a starter and played the most minutes for us but we were disappointed in his performance so we brought him off the bench and challenged him and he definitely responded.”
Gwynn Park (9-4, 8-1 in 3A conference) moved to first place in the division after beating Largo (10-2, 8-1) on Saturday. Friendly (6-5, 6-3) remained in third place with the defeat.
Even with a 21-point lead late in the third quarter, the Gwynn ParkYellow Jackets knew that handing Largo its first league loss would be difficult.
Despite late-game turnovers, inopportune fouls and subpar free throw shooting, the Yellow Jackets weathered a furious comeback from their rivals to the north, defeating the Lions 78-76. Gwynn Park moved into a tie atop the Prince George’s 3A/2A/1A league standings.
Behind 11 fourth-quarter points from guard Derrick Colter, the Lions did not go quietly. The standout senior guard notched a game-high 24 points and added four rebounds, three assists, and five steals.
As Gwynn Park looked to control the ball and burn the clock, Largo head coach Lewis Howard used a mixture of presses and traps on defense and forced the Yellow Jackets to turn the ball over. On the offensive end, Largo attacked the basket and got to the free-throw line at the expense of Gwynn Park’s 6-foot-9 center Marcel Boyd, whose defensive presence was lost after fouling out. The Lions would convert 11 of 14 free throws down the stretch to narrow the sizable margin.
The Lions (9-2, 7-1 PG 3A/2A/1A) pulled to within four points of Gwynn Park after a three-point play from junior Daemond Carter with 1:40 left in the game, but critical free throws from seniors Ageyi Gregory and Xavier Richards helped put the game out of reach as the lead grew to 77-70 with 20.3 seconds left. Colter would hit two desperation three-point attempts, but Gwynn Park successfully ran out the clock before Largo could foul again.
“We [were] still in the game as long as there’s time on the clock,” Howard said, recalling what he told his players during that critical third quarter. “We’re upset that we lost, but the numbers show that we fought back, so that’s a good sign for us.”
Such is the sentiment among two rival teams that annually contend for the league title. Yellow Jackets coach Mike Glick has respect for the coaching job Howard has done in keeping his Lions focused on their comeback attempt.
“They’re a never-say-die team,” Glick said. “They did a great job of applying pressure. I thought we struggled towards the fourth quarter handling the pressure. We were lucky to escape with a victory.”
Already holding a respectable 39-31 halftime advantage, Gwynn Park (8-4, 7-1 PG 3A/2A/1A) opened the lead to 62-41 behind the inspired play of senior Xavier Richards, who played much bigger than his 6-foot-2-inch frame, scoring 19 points, pulling down 17 rebounds, and blocking five shots.
Junior Jalen Harris also came alive in the second half. Despite Harris shooting poorly in the first half, Glick was still pleased with his shot selection and encouraged Harris to keep his head up and keep shooting. He scored 10 points in that pivotal third quarter en route to a co-team-high 21 points.
“The good thing about Jalen is that he plays with no conscience,” Glick said, regarding Harris not getting gun-shy after his subpar first half. “He’s got the attitude of a shooter.”
Boyd also appeared to dominate the boards in the first half, pulling down eight of his 10 rebounds to go with seven points, but his height quickly drew the attention of Largo forwards Damante McNeill and Michael Graham. McNeill added 18 points on the offensive end.
Gwynn Park also opened the game strong thanks to the sharp shooting of Gregory, who also scored 21 points, in the first quarter. Coming off the bench, he provided a spark for the Yellow Jackets, hitting two three-pointers and making three free throws after being fouled while shooting from behind the arc.
Both teams will hit the road Tuesday for their next contest, with Largo taking on Forestville (5-7, 3-5 PG 3A/2A/1A) and Gwynn Park traveling to Friendly (6-4, 6-2 PG 3A/2A/1A). Despite pulling even with Largo in the league standings, Glick could not stress enough the importance of Tuesday’s contest.
“If we lose to Friendly, we’re just giving a game back that we won here,” he said. “This victory is just one win. We’ve got to bounce back and be ready to play on Tuesday in a very tough environment on the road.”
Forgive Gwynn Park seniors Xavier Richards and Agyei Gregory for not knowing at first just how important Friday night’s Prince George’s 3A/2A/1A game against Largo was going to be. They’re both natives of the Virgin Islands and came to Gwynn Park for their final year of high school for a better shot at college.
And even though adjusting to a new school and a different style of basketball wasn’t easy at first, the cousins showed that they’re quickly grasping their new surroundings — and they’re excelling in it, too. Richards and Gregory combined for 40 points in a thrilling 78-76 upset win over the 13th-ranked Lions in Brandywine.
“I love playing with [Richards],” said Gregory, who led the Yellow Jackets with 21 points off the bench. “He’s my biggest competition and I’m sure I’m his biggest competition. But when we’re on the floor together, it’s great.”
Back home on the island of St. Thomas, Richards and Gregory played for rival high schools, joining forces only during summer basketball. But together they decided to move in with their uncle Scheniko Frett, who lives near Gwynn Park.
“I didn’t really know about the opportunity but [my uncle] told me to come because he knew I was good at basketball and I needed a better education,” said Richards, who had 19 points.
And though both admit it was difficult at first to pick up everything that was new, they have both started to settle in at their new school.
Against Largo (9-2, 7-1), the 6-foot-1 Richards showcased his incredible leaping ability, recording 11 rebounds and five crucial blocks. Gregory, a 6-foot-2 sharpshooter, had 15 points at the half to help the Yellow Jackets build a 39-31 lead.
Gwynn Park (8-4, 6-1) pushed further ahead in the third quarter, leading by 21 points, before Largo mounted a comeback behind standout senior guard Derrick Colter (20 points). The Lions trimmed the deficit to four points with a 1 minute 40 seconds left.
Led by Richards and Gregory, the Yellow Jackets withstood a pair of three-pointers by Colter in the final 14 seconds to eke out the win over their rivals, who were unknown to both of them only months before.
“We knew about the hype from our teammates and the build-up during the week,” Gregory said.
Lions stage fourth-quarter comeback, but Yellow Jackets escape with two-point victory in battle of Prince George’s 3A/2A/1A League’s top teams
by Terron Hampton, Staff Writer
Greg Dohler/The Gazette Jalen Harris (left) of Gwynn Park drives to the basket against Largo's Damante McNeill during Friday night's game at Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine.
Most athletes and coaches at Gwynn Park High School consider Frederick Douglass High their arch rival, but this winter in boys basketball, the Yellow Jackets may temporarily give that title to Largo.
In a raucous atmosphere Friday night in Brandywine, the Lions and Yellow Jackets put on a show that demonstrated they may be the two best teams in the Prince George’s County 3A/2A/1A League this season.
After trailing by 21 points in the third quarter, Largo managed to make the contest a nail-biter, but the Lions were unable to complete the comeback and Gwynn Park escaped with a 78-76 victory.
The Yellow Jackets (8-4 overall, 7-1 league) moved into a tie for the league lead while handing the Lions (9-2, 7-1) their first loss in the county this season.
“I think in our league, this has become the rivalry,” said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. “This has become the Duke vs. North Carolina. It’s a great rivalry. I think we’re both very good. Being good and always fighting for the top of the division makes it great for both teams.”
As an added bonus, Friday’s game potentially was the first of three between the teams this season. Gwynn Park will visit Largo on Feb. 13, and in the postseason both teams will play in the 2A South Region. Largo previously was a 3A school, which meant the teams went their separate ways during the playoffs. But Largo was reclassified to the 2A ranks starting this school year.
Gwynn Park junior guard Jalen Harris, who has been one of the surprise players in the county this season, scored 21 points, three above his average. Yellow Jackets’ senior Agyei Gregory, who has become a starter in place of injured junior Alex Bazil, also had 21 points. High-leaping senior Xavier Richards had 19 points for Gwynn Park.
In recent years, the Yellow Jackets have had a dynamite duo to lead the way. Brandon Ford and Tion Barnes were the cornerstone of the team the past two seasons as Gwynn Park won two consecutive 2A South Region titles. But this season, the Yellow Jackets are getting contributions from many players, and Glick said this year’s team is “the most balanced” he has had in six seasons at the Brandywine school. The team has an inside punch from 6-foot-9 senior center Marcel Boyd, rebounding from Richards and Boyd and outside shooting from Harris.
“We can rely on a bunch of different people on this team,” Harris said. “Coach tells us to move the ball around in practice and we carry that over to the game. That helps us get open shots and get to the basket.”
Largo, which has a senior-laden lineup, has grown to expect a battle every time it steps on the court. Friday night, the Lions already were eagerly anticipating the teams’ next meeting Feb. 13
“The conversation we had in the locker room is that we’re going to punish them the next time we play them,” said Derrick Colter, who had a game-high 24 points. “We’re the team to beat and they’re feeling good because they beat us. It’s personal. Next time they come to play at our house, it’s on. They’re our biggest rival now.”
Leading 39-31 at the start of the third quarter, Gwynn Park played with more energy and outhustled the Lions to start the second half. Gwynn Park had boosted its lead to 62-41 with a little more than a minute to play in the third period.
But over the next 5 minutes, the Lions began using full-court pressure and outscored the Yellow Jackets, 14-6, to cut the deficit to nine with 5 minutes remaining in the game.
The Lions would cut got to within four points at 74-70 with 1:40 remaining in the game. But a series of misses and turnovers hurt the Lions’ chances, and then time expired.
“It has become a rivalry within the County 3A/2A/1A League,” said Largo coach Lewis Howard. “It’s a competitive situation. You have two very good teams playing. We are the barometer for our league, however, [Gwynn Park] is the barometer as well. Now that we’ve dropped to Class 2A, we’re in the same region now. There’s potential that we will play again after the second game. We relish it.”
thampton@gazette.net
Gwynn Park 78, Largo 76
Largo 13 18 14 31 — 76
Gwynn Park 25 14 23 16 — 78
Largo (9-2, 7-1): Derrick Colter 24, Damante McNeill 18, Lafayette Nelson 14, Daemond Carter 11, Michael Graham 3, Jeffery Garvin 2, Tyeke Jones 2, Khari Sewell 2.
Gwynn Park (8-4, 7-1): Agyei Gregory 21, Jalen Harris 21, Xavier Richards 19, Marcel Boyd 7, Jarvis Hawkins 6, Robert Flint 2, Trevor Ford 2.
Most of the firepower that propelled the Gwynn Park High School boys’ basketball team into the Maryland 2A semifinals last season was lost to graduation last spring. But a new cast of characters could be on a track similar to last year’s team.
A hot-shooting first quarter that included six 3-pointers was enough for the Gwynn Park to earn a 76-64 victory against Fairmont Heights on Friday night in Brandywine. The Yellow Jackets improved to 6-4 overall and 5-1 in the County 3A/2A/1A League, while the Hornets (3-7) dropped their fifth in a row.
“I think we’re picking up momentum,” said Gwyn Park coach Mike Glick. “We knew that it would take a while for them to develop chemistry with five new starters this season. We knew that as the season moved on we would get better and they’re starting to get to know each other.”
Gwynn Park’s 6-foot-9 senior center Marcel Boyd was impressive, scoring 16 points while grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking three shots. Senior forward Xavier Richards added a spark with 10 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.
“This is a breaking point for us as a team,” Boyd said. “We’re starting to come together as a team. We know each other’s roles and what each other can and can’t do, and we’re starting to work and become a better team. I think the second half could shape up really good for us.”
“It all starts in practice,” Richards said. “We play together, developing our chemistry. We just have to keep the same intensity and bring it every night.”
Underscoring the completeness of the effort on Friday, Gwynn Park had a season-high 19 assists as a team.
Junior guard Jalen Harris has been a driving force all season, averaging 18 points per game. He had 20 against Fairmont Heights, and senior Agyei Gregory added 14 points, including four 3-pointers.
Fairmont Heights senior forward Julian Livingston had an outstanding night with a game-high 32 points, to go along with seven rebounds and four blocks. But the rest of the Hornets struggled to play consistently.
“Right now we have a lot to learn,” Livingston said. “We keep making the same mistakes and turnovers. People can’t handle the ball and pressure [defense], and that keeps putting us in bad situations at the end of the game.”
Hornets’ coach George Wake said the team’s experienced leaders need to demand more from their teammates.
“We’re lost at this point, and a car riding down the road without a driver,” Wake said. “We have no leadership. If you’re practicing and practice is not going well, it should be a leader, not a coach pulling the players back in to work hard. You always want a leader that makes the team accountable and we don’t have that.”
Game notes: Gwynn Park will be without senior leader Eric Batts for at least several weeks after he suffered an injury to his reconstructed left knee during practice on Tuesday. Batts, who tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in December 2010 and missed the rest of last season, reinjured his knee when a teammate fell on the back of his leg.
“My knee stiffened up but it’s going to take a couple of weeks,” said Batts, a 6-foot guard. “This year has been frustrating. Before hurting my knee again, I felt close to 100 percent. Every game I’m getting better and that’s what I’m happy about and I’m having a progression right now.”
“He was really getting better and more confidence in his knee,” Glick said. “He’s our most tenacious player, and losing him is a big blow because he plays harder than anybody. He plays bigger than what he is.”
The Yellow Jackets are looking forward to the return of 6-11 senior center Kevin Walters, who has missed all of the Yellow Jackets 10 games this season after breaking his wrist in practice. Glick said he expects for Walters to return within the next two weeks.
Photo by Jacqui South. Marcel Boyd, a Howard University recruit, leads Gwynn Park.
Published on: Friday, January 06, 2012
By Brandy L. Simms
At 6-foot-9 inches tall and weighing 230 pounds, Gwynn Park High senior center Marcel Boyd stands out on the hardwood.
Boyd has helped lead the Yellow Jackets to a 4-4 record through the team’s first eight games and has registered four double-doubles in the process.
The graduation of players such as Tion Barnes, Brandon Ford and Daniel Henry has forced Boyd to take more of a leadership role this season.
Described by Gwynn Park head coach Mike Glick as “athletic with a tremendous upside,” Boyd will take his skills to the District of Columbia next season when he suits up for the Howard University Bison.
“Howard’s a great fit because it’s close to home,” said Boyd, who signed with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference school during the November early signing period.
The Bison are coached by Kevin Nickelberry, a 47-year-old District native who began his coaching career as an assistant at Takoma Park’s Columbia Union College (now Washington Adventist University) in the early 1990s.
Nickelberry held assistant coaching positions at various Division I programs including Charlotte and Clemson but got his big break when Hampton University hired him to be their head coach in 2006. After a three-year stint at Hampton, Nickelberry spent a season coaching the Libyan national team before he was hired by Howard in 2010.
“Coach Nickelberry, he’s a great coach,” Boyd said. “He told me when I come there he’s going to teach me a lot of stuff that I don’t know, he’s going to develop me.”
The Bison roster is littered with Prince George’s County products including Prince Okoroh (Eleanor Roosevelt), Brandon Bailey (Largo) and Ford, Boyd’s former high school teammate.
“I’ve been playing with them guys since tenth grade so it (will be) fun to play with them again,” Boyd said. “That just made the deal even sweeter.”
In the meantime, however, Boyd has his sights set on helping Gwynn Park get back to the state tournament and capturing the Brandywine school’s first Maryland state title since 1988.
Gwynn Park, Eleanor Roosevelt open tourney with losses
Photo by Jacqui South. Eleanor Roosevelt's Chaun Miller guards Nick Griffin, who put up 11 points for Magruder.
Published on: Friday, January 06, 2012
By Brandy L. Simms
Montgomery County basketball made a statement last week as both Springbrook and Magruder captured wins in the opening games of the Roberts Oxygen Holiday Tournament at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring.
The two day tournament featured Springbrook and Magruder against Prince George’s County powers Eleanor Roosevelt and Gwynn Park.
Magruder senior forward Garland Owens scored a game-high 16 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots to lead the Colonels past Eleanor Roosevelt in the opener, 64-45.
“Garland, he’s about 6-4 and a half but he plays like he’s 6-8, 6-9,” said Magruder head coach Dan Harwood.
The dynamic junior backcourt duo of Nick Griffin (11 points) and J.J. Epps (15 points) combined for 26 points and classmate Justin Witmer finished with ten points for Magruder.
Several Division I college recruiters were in attendance including George Washington head coach Mike Lonergan and Howard University head coach Kevin Nickelberry.
In the nightcap, Springbrook held on for a 61-59 victory over Gwynn Park after racing out to a 15-point halftime lead.
“We’ve been off for a week. That’s no excuse, but I think we were a little lackadaisical in the start,” said Gwynn Park head coach Mike Glick. “But overall, I’m proud of the way we responded. Springbrook’s an excellent team.”
Springbrook was led by senior forward Demetric Austin who scored a game-high 25 points; Charles Taylor finished with 14 points and Tomazye Anderson added 11 points for the Blue Devils.
Meanwhile, Gwynn Park was led by the trio of Jalen Harris (16 points), Marcel Boyd (12 points) and Xavier Richards (11 points) who combined for 39 of the Yellow Jackets’ 59 points.
Entering the 2011 Robert's Oxygen Holiday Invitational most fans thought that the most lopsided game of the tournament would be the match-up that featured #9 Magruder and #25 Gwynn Park.
Those who stuck around for the tournament finale saw arguably the best game of the two day showcase, an up and down affair that saw Magruder's big 5 click on all cylinders. The Yellow Jackets however showed incredible fight and kept the game close throughout. Magruder connected on ten 3 point field goals, 8 of which came from junior's Nick Griffin and Justin Witmer. The pair combined for 25 first half points. Witner finished the game with 19, Griffin 17 and senior Garland Owens scored 19 as well.
Despite losing the contest, Gwynn Park's fight and resolve were the story of the game. For the third consecutive game and fifth time this season, the Yellow Jackets were led in scoring by sharp shooting Junior guard Jalen Harris. Harris scored 21 on Wednesday night and has now made 19 3-pointers through 8 games this season. He has made at least two 3's in every game this season but two and is also shooting over 80% from the free throw line. Center Marcel Boyd added 9 points and 5 rebounds but was only 1-7 from the free throw line and missed two critical free throws with seconds remaining that could have brought the score down to a one possesion lead. Guard Xavier Richards had a double-double for the Yellow Jackets scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
The tournament was great experience for a Magruder team that Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick considers the favorite to win the 4A state championship this year. With Baltimore's Patterson High School being moved down to the 3A, most consider 4A defending state champions North Point, and Magruder, the class of the division. The problem for Magruder is that they don't get tested often. Their season opener with DeMatha was a great test, as was this Christmas tournament, but the Montgomery County Schedule they play offers only a couple of games that should challenge the #9 Colonels.
When the regular season resumes after the new year, Magruder will host Gaithersburg on January 3 while Gwynn Park hosts Broadneck on the 4th.
Colonels remain hot from outside to defeat Gwynn Park at Springbrook tournament
by James Peters, Staff Writer
Chris Rossi/The Gazette Gwynn Park High School’s Jalen Harris tries to split the defense of Col. Zadok Magruder’s Luke Ruland (left) and Nick Griffin (right) during Wednesday’s game at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring.
is Rossi/The Gazette Gwynn Park High School’s Jalen Harris tries to split the defense of Col. Zadok Magruder’s Luke Ruland (left) and Nick Griffin (right) during Wednesday’s game at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring.
Chris Rossi/The Gazette Col. Zadok Magruder High School senior Garland Owens dunks during Wednesday's game against Gwynn Park at Springbrook in Silver Spring.
Gwynn Park High School boys basketball coach Mike Glick experienced a touch of the six-degrees-of-separation phenomena Wednesday night and it wasn't exactly a pleasant occurrence.
Facing Col. Zadok Magruder during the second day of the Roberts Oxygen Invitational at Springbrook High School, Glick ran into the son of a long-time friend and former Catholic Youth Organization basketball teammate, namely Colonels junior forward Justin Witmer, whose 21 points, including a timely 3-pointer to end the third quarter, helped the Colonels to a 67-61 win.
Joking that the sting of the loss was lessened considering who it was against, Glick was more than pleased with his team's effort, including trimming a 64-54 deficit with 2 minutes and 10 seconds left in the game to as close as four points, 65-61, with 23.3 seconds following a 3-pointer by Jalen Harris. A furious full-court press turned Magruder miscues into points.
“We're getting better,” said Glick, whose Yellow Jackets fell to 4-4 with three of those losses coming to 4A powerhouses Eleanor Roosevelt (6-2), Springbrook (6-2) and Magruder (7-1). “I'm proud of my players; the way they responded. They didn't have any quit in them. There's a lot of room for improvement. I think we need to get better every day and if we do, we'll be where we want to be.”
The boys side of the invitational gave some of the top public school teams from Montgomery and Prince George's counties a chance to play each other. Magruder is ranked second by the Montgomery Gazette, Gwynn Park sixth by the Prince George's Gazette.
For Magruder, the victory was the team's seventh straight since a season-opening loss to DeMatha and it gave the Colonels a two-game sweep at the two-day, four-team, non-championship tournament. They also own a 59-50 win against the Blue Devils this winter.
“It's just a statement for us because they're supposed to be the best teams in PG County and we want to be the best team in Montgomery County,” said Witmer, who nailed four 3-pointers in the win. “It's just a good win. We just played as a team, kept our heads in the game and overall played pretty good. Seven and one is definitely where we want to be right now.”
Like in the Roosevelt win, Magruder was hot offensively in the first quarter with 23 points for a six-point advantage. That lead grew to 38-29 at halftime following a 3-point play by Witmer with 1.2 seconds left in the half.
Witmer opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer and ended it with one for a 52-41 lead. Gwynn Park held possession late in the third quarter but a travelling violation gave Magruder the ball and Witmer nailed an open 3-pointer from the right wing as the buzzer sounded.
“They're about as good defensively as we're going to see this year,” Colonels coach Dan Harwood said. “We want to spread the floor, keep the ball moving and we were getting some good looks passing the ball to Nick [Griffin] and Justin. [Witmer] definitely knocked some shots down that opened things up for us.”
Magruder kept its lead between 6-10 points for much of the fourth quarter but Glick employed his “Jungle” press in the final few minutes of the game and it forced a trio of turnovers and led to seven straight points by Harris, who scored 13 of 23 points in the fourth quarter on mostly drives to the basket and finishes in traffic.
But a pair of missed free throws with 6.2 seconds by the Yellow Jackets and then a pair of double bonus free throws by Garland Owens (15 points) with four seconds left sealed the win for the Colonels.
Austin scores 25, hits decisive free throws as Blue Devils win in intercounty holiday tournament
by Jennifer Beekman, Staff Writer
Dan Gross/The Gazette Springbrook High School's Branden Emery (left) drives up the lane against Gwynn Park's Xavier Hawkins in Tuesday's Robert's Oxygen Holiday Invitational at Springbrook. In the matchup between Montgomery and Prince George's county teams, the Blue Devils held on for a two-point victory.
Every day before practice officially starts, Springbrook High School boys basketball coach Tom Crowell asks his players to shoot 100 free throws.
That seemingly tedious task paid dividends in Tuesday's 61-59 win over Prince George's County's Gwynn Park on the first day of the Roberts Oxygen Holiday Invitational at Springbrook.
The Montgomery Gazette's fourth-ranked team (6-1) made 14-of-22 free throws, which allowed them to prevail despite a six-point third quarter. Most importantly, senior Demetric Austin netted both of his attempts with six seconds remaining in regulation to all but clinch the game at 61-56.
Gwynn Park is ranked sixth by the Prince George's Gazette.
Yellow Jackets junior Jalen Harris' fourth 3-pointer of the night fell in at the buzzer.
“I've got to thank my coach,” Austin said. “That just showed how important free throws are.”
Added Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick: “Free throws are a huge part of the game. A lot of games are decided by free throws. They ran a great out-of-bounds play to get the ball into [Austin] and he knocked down both of his shots.”
Springbrook's two-day tournament pits two of Montgomery's best against two of the best Prince George's has to offer. Austin said a bit of intercounty rivalry made the game even more exciting.
The Blue Devils are scheduled to face fourth-ranked Eleanor Roosevelt at 5 p.m. Wednesday, with Magruder and Gwynn Park to follow at 7 p.m.
Springbrook took advantage of Gwynn Park's (4-1) slow start Tuesday and jumped to a 31-16 halftime lead. Once the Yellow Jackets' shots started falling, however, they were able to employ their full-court press and the Blue Devils struggled to adjust to the pace.
Gwynn Park outscored Springbrook,17-6, in the third quarter to cut the Blue Devils' lead to 37-33. The Yellow Jackets twice got within three in the final minute of regulation.
“They started trapping and we did not know what to do,” Austin said. “We didn't have a game plan. Then [Crowell] told us a couple of plays to open up the lanes.”
Once Springbrook started to penetrate the paint and dish the ball out to Austin (25 points) for the pull-up jumper or to inside-out threats Charles Taylor (13) and Tomazye Anderson (12), the Blue Devils were able to regain control.
Harris scored nine of his team-high 17 total points in Gwynn Park's fourth-quarter comeback bid. Ten of 6-foot-9, 230-pound senior center Marcel Boyd's 14 points were scored in the second half.
“Springbrook is an excellent team, one of the best teams we'll play,” Glick said. “We're just trying to get better.”
jbeekman@gazette.net
Springbrook 61, Gwynn Park 59
Gwynn Park (4-1) 8 8 17 26—59
Springbrook (6-1) 15 16 6 24—61
Gwynn Park: Jalen Harris 17, Marcel Boyd 14, Xavier Richards 11, Jarvis Hawkins 6, Robert Flint 4, Eric Batts 3, Achkel Bazil 2, Trevor Ford 2. Springbrook: Demetric Austin 25, Charles Taylor 13, Tomazye Anderson 12, Wayo Adjei 5, Brandon Emery 4, Timmy Christian 2.
Demetric Austin carried Springbrook in the night cap of Tuesday's double header in the Roberts Oxygen Holiday Classic at Springbrook High School.
Austin scored 16 of his game high 25 points in the fourth and decisive quarter to go along with 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Springbrook got out to an early lead, and as the first half ended it appeared that "The Brook" had it wrapped up. But Mike Glick's Gwynn Park Yellow Jackets have always been known as a scrappy bunch and that was evident tonight. Gwynn Park, who won last year's Capitol Hoops Game Of The Year - a thrilling win over an undefeated Oakland Mills team to capture a regional championship and advance to the Comcast Center graduated all five of its starters from last year's team. Glick, who called his team a "work in progress", saw his squad storm back from a 15 point half time deficit behind a swarming full court press to cut the lead to just one on 2 separate possessions. Springbrook began to break the press late and come away with easy transition baskets. They also made 10 fourth quarter free throws to secure the victory.
Gwynn Park was led by Center Marcel Boyd, who scored 14 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Gwynn Park's Jalen Harris scored 17, including four 3-pointers; but Boyd's inside presence is what stood out.
On Wednesday in day two of the tournament #19 Springbrook will play #14 Eleanor Roosevelt at 5pm. #25 Gwynn Park will play #9 Magruder in the night cap.
Christmas arrived a few days early for area high school basketball fans as two of Prince George's County's top programs had a rare regular season meeting on Saturday night.
Two-time defending 4A South Region champion Eleanor Roosevelt notched a 51-41 victory against two-time 2A South Region champ Gwynn Park in the marquee game of the More Than Basketball Winter Showcase: 2A/3A vs. 4A Challenge at Riverdale Baptist School.
The event featured five games matching teams from the Prince George's County 4A League against teams from the County 3A/2A/1A League. Both Roosevelt and Gwynn Park viewed Saturday night's meeting as a signature game, as both have been the signature teams in their respective regions the last two years.
As it has done consistently in the past two seasons, Roosevelt (4-1) once again relied on its defense to control the game and defeat Gwynn Park (4-1). After coming from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Henry A. Wise 54-47 on Friday night, Roosevelt’s stifling 2-3 zone defense gave Gwynn Park problems throughout Saturday's game.
On the offensive end, senior Chaun Miller led the way for the Raiders with 14 points.
“He’s been a great senior leader for us,” said Roosevelt coach Brendan O’Connell.
The Raiders knew they were facing a formidable offensive team in Gwynn Park, which had reached the 80-point mark in two of its first four games, including an 81-66 win against Frederick Douglass on Friday.
“I’m proud of my players,” O'Connell said. “They fought through battles, [and] made enough plays to win. We knew if we kept getting stops it would keep us in the game and ultimately some shots started falling.”
Despite the loss, Gwynn Park remained confident.
“It’s a game that’s going to make us better, though tonight we did not shoot the ball well,” said Yellow Jackets' coach Mike Glick. “We’ve been scoring in the 70s and 80s, and their defense held us to 41.”
Jarvis Hawkins was the leading scorer for Gwynn Park with 13 points, followed by 12 points from Xavier Richards, who gave Roosevelt problems in the second half.
The tempo of the game favored Roosevelt from the opening tip, as the Raiders made many defensive stops. But Roosevelt had trouble capitalizing on offense.
Gwynn Park led 13-12 at the end of the first quarter, and there was even less scoring in the second quarter, as Roosevelt took a 21-19 lead into halftime. The Raiders held a 33-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter, and then had their most productive period of the game, scoring 18 points in the final eight minutes.
Roosevelt 51, Gwynn Park 41
Roosevelt 12 9 12 18 – 51
Gwynn Park 13 6 9 13 – 41
Roosevelt (4-1): Chaun Miller 14, Malachi Alexander 9, Amir Baiyina 9, Tiwain Kindley 7, Arnaud Mulosa 5, Enuoma Ebinum 4, B.J. Antoine 3.
Gwynn Park (4-1): Jarvis Hawkins 13, Xavier Richards 12, Marcel Boyd 4, Jalen Harris 4, Agyel Gregory 3, Trevor Ford 2, Achkel Bazil 2, Eric Batts 1.
Prior to the season, the biggest concern facing Mike Glick’s Gwynn Park High School boys’ basketball squad was inexperience.
His team lost all five starters from last year and it was unclear how the returning players would respond.
Watching the Yellow Jackets demolish rival Frederick Douglass, 81-66, in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Gwynn Park on Friday, however, one would have thought Glick’s lineup has played together since birth.
Gwynn Park 6-foot-9 senior center Marcel Boyd and senior swing man Xavier Richards combined to score 43 points and grab 23 rebounds in the dominant effort. Both played above the rim more often than not in helping the Yellow Jackets improve to 4-0.
The duo commenced the onslaught from the opening tip when Boyd swatted the ball into Gwynn Park’s offensive zone. Richards then ran onto it, took two steps and dunked it with both hands. It was the first of three dunks for Richards, while Boyd added two, including a breakway dunk that gave Gwynn Park its largest lead of the night, 72-51, midway through the fourth quarter.
“Marcel Boyd has taken his game to a different level,” Glick said. “A lot of the credit goes to Marcel and him stepping up his game. And Xavier Richards is sparking us offensively. He’s a tough matchup.”
Boyd finished with a game-high 23 points and 13 rebounds while Richards added 20 points and 10 rebounds. Boyd was 10 of 15 from the floor with the majority of his buckets coming in the paint. Despite being double-teamed often, Boyd frequently converted or found an open man (he had four assists).
Richards, meanwhile, was 9 of 16, scoring in a variety of ways. He displayed an unmatched level of athleticism not only with his dunking ability, but his quickness off the ball and rebounding in traffic. The Yellow Jackets beat Douglass (1-3) on the boards 39-25 in what Glick called his team’s best rebounding effort this season.
“It’s a very unique team and a very disciplined team,” Glick said. “It’s a very together team and a very unselfish team. I think that makes up for the lack of experience.”
Facilitating for the Yellow Jackets was 6-foot-4 senior point guard Jarvis Hawkins, who finished with 11 points and five assists. His calming presence and heady play allowed Gwynn Park to perform like a veteran squad despite its rather inexperienced roster.
“I came in here knowing that I would have to do a lot for my team to win,” Hawkins said. “Whatever my team needs for us to get the win, I’m there.”
Despite four Douglass players recording double figures in points — led by 16 apiece from Saquan Epps-Walker (who also had nine rebounds) and JaSahn Johnson — Gwynn Park’s attack was too meticulous and unrelenting for the Eagles to counter.
“We knew they had height. It played a bigger role than we anticipated,” said Douglass coach Tyrone Massenburg. “[Richards], his athleticism, we just couldn’t match it on our side. We had a hard time containing him. It was a good night for them. We picked a bad time to not really play our best.”
The teams traded blows evenly in the first quarter, which ended 19-18 in favor of Gwynn Park, but the Yellow Jackets pulled away with an 8-0 run midway through the second quarter and their lead was never again threatened.
Both teams will play Saturday in the second annual MTB Winter Showcase-2A/3A vs. 4A Challenge at Riverdale Baptist. Douglass will face Bowie at 6:40 p.m. before Gwynn Park takes on Eleanor Roosevelt at 8:20 p.m.
“We’re looking forward to it. We get to represent our league and enter as the underdog,” Glick said.
After a couple weeks of play under our belts Capitol Hoops has taken the opportunity to watch a lot of basketball and while a familiar face is ranked #1 its our #2 ranking that's stirring up the controversy. Check out our top-25 as follows .....
#1 Montrose Christian 5-0 (Rockville, MD)
#2 Paul VI 5-0 (Fairfax City, VA)
#3 DeMatha 3-0 (Hyattsville, MD)
#4 Gonzaga 5-0 (Washington, DC)
#5 Patterson 2-0 (Baltimore, MD)
#6 Mount St. Joseph 8-0 (Baltimore, MD)
#7 North Point 2-0 (Waldorf, MD)
#8 St. Frances 2-1 (Baltimore, MD)
#9 Magruder 2-1 (Rockville, MD)
#10 O'Connell 5-0 (Arlington, VA)
#11 Episcopal 3-1 (Alexandria, VA)
#12 Dunbar 2-0 (Baltimore, MD)
#13 National Christian 3-1 (Fort Washington, MD)
#14 Eleanor Roosevelt 1-1 (Greenbelt, MD)
#15 Riverdale Baptist 6-2 (Upper Marlboro, MD)
#16 John Carroll 9-1 (Bel Air, MD)
#17 Coolidge 4-1 (Washington, DC)
#18 Milford Mill 0-0 (Baltimore, MD)
#19 Springbrook 2-0 (Silver Spring, MD)
#20 Wise 2-0 (Upper Marlboro, MD)
#21 Bullis 4-0 (Potomac, MD)
#22 St. Johns 3-1 (Washington, DC)
#23 Landon 2-2 (Bethesda, MD)
#24 Lake Clifton 2-0 (Baltimore, MD)
#25 Gwynn Park 2-0 (Brandywine, MD)
Saturday, December 10
Gwynn Park finishes with a flourish 88-63
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Gwynn Park finishes with a flourish
Boyd’s dunk highlights standout performance for Yellow Jackets’ center in victory vs. Forestville
by Travis Mewhirter, Staff Writer
Gwynn Park High School guard Eric Batts slashed through the left side of the lane in the fourth quarter Friday night and shot a scoop-style layup that was just a hair too high, bouncing off the backboard and well over the rim.
Forestville Military Academy’s fans and players might have preferred if it went in.
Gwynn Park center Marcel Boyd, a 6-foot-9, 230-pound senior, left his feet midway through the lane, grabbed the missed layup in mid-air with his baseball-mitt sized hands and thundered the ball through the hoop for an emphatic dunk.
The gym at Gwynn Park was packed, but in that instant every seat was vacant. Rattled by the boisterous crowd and a mountain of momentum piling up against it, Forestville fell apart in the final 3 minutes, 30 seconds of the game and lost 88-63 to the Yellow Jackets.
“It’s definitely exciting and it gets the crowd going,” said Boyd, a Howard University recruit who said he was able to dunk for the first time as a freshman. “That’s what I love about it, getting everybody going like that.”
Boyd did more than excite the crowd. His 6-9 frame and impossibly long wingspan frustrated Forestville players throughout the game. And it was just because of his dunking. Every time the Knights managed to slip past Gwynn Park’s first line of defense, they faced Boyd in the lane, who would alter their shots or send them right back where they came from. The senior center finished with five blocks to go with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
“This was Marcel’s biggest game of the season,” said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. “He made a humongous difference. He played smart while with fouls ... today our size advantage was huge.”
A woefully undersized but scrappy Forestville squad trailed from the outset of the game. It took more than five minutes for the Knights to score their first points, but by then they were already trailing by 12. Five Gwynn Park players scored in the first quarter as the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a comfortable 21-5 lead.
“A start like that totally alters the game,” Glick said. “This is the second game in a row we have been able to do that and it made a big difference.”
But Forestville standout guard Juwan Cole didn’t let the Yellow Jackets run away with it. The senior dropped in 10 of his 24 points in the second quarter, getting to the free throw line 11 times and connecting on eight foul shots in the second period.
“We tried to get the ball out of his hands tonight,” Glick said. “If Cole isn’t the best player in the league he’s absolutely one of the top three or four.”
Cole helped bring the Knights back to within 10 points of Gwynn Park with 6:46 remaining in the game. But hot shooting by Jalen Harris and gritty inside play by Boyd helped the Yellow Jackets maintain control. Harris finished 18 points after scoring 25 in the Yellow Jackets’ 67-62 win against Surrattsville on Tuesday. Gwynn Park ended the game on a 25-10 run.
The Yellow Jackets lost in last year’s 2A state semifinals at the University of Maryland’s Comcast Center. Then they lost most of last year’s varsity team to graduation. But their motivation this winter is clear.
“I’ll be any kind of player we need,” said Boyd after the game. “I’m just going to do whatever it takes to get back to Comcast.”
Gwynn Park 88, Forestville 63
Forestville 5 21 22 15 — 63
Gwynn Park 21 17 22 28 — 88
Gwynn Park (2-0): Marcel Boyd 20; Jalen Harris 18; Jarvis Hawkins 12; Xavier Richards 11; Trevor Ford 3; Terry Martin 2; Ackhel Bazil 2
Forestville (0-2): Juwan Cole 24; Clarence Johnson 19; Joseph Jackson 6; Terrell Strokes 6; Randell Nelson 4; Raymond Cooper 4
OUTLOOK: After reaching the 2A state semifinals last season, Gwynn Park heads into 2011-12 needing to replace all five of its starters. Six-foot-9 Howard University recruit Marcel Boyd (3.8 points per game) and 6-4 senior Jarvis Hawkins (4.4 ppg) are the only two returning players who logged significant minutes last season, and both must make up for the loss of leading scorer Brandon Ford (17.3 ppg), a Gazette-Star All-County first team selection who is now a freshman at Howard. Junior shooting guard Jalen Harris averaged 21 points per game at the junior varsity level, and coach Michael Glick said he expects Harris to emerge as a go-to player. With so much inexperience, the Yellow Jackets will be tested with a difficult out-of-conference schedule. Glick called this year's squad his “closest-knit” team since 2008. “We'll have a great deal of size, but no superstars,” Glick said. “We're very strong on offensive and defensive rebounding and we'll be a balanced team.”
Three years ago, Marcel Boyd was an exceptionally tall junior varsity football player, and his coaches at Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine knew the 6-foot-5 ninth-grader was out of place.
“My coaches were, like, ‘we got to get you on the basketball team,’” Boyd said.
As a sophomore, Boyd played organized basketball for the first time. Now standing 6-9 in his senior year, Boyd recently gave a verbal commitment to accept a basketball scholarship at Howard University.
“Basically it came down to me and my family sitting down and discussing it, and I really wanted to get my college decision out of the way so I could focus on the season,” Boyd said. “It also came down to Howard because [2011 Gwynn Park graduate] Brandon Ford is on the team, and that’s a person I know. Also Howard is not too far from home and my parents can come to all of my games. The education offered there is also top-tier.”
Boyd also drew interest from Robert Morris University, Mount Saint Mary’s and St. Francis.
“It’s perfect for him,” said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. “It is the classic win-win position. First of all, Howard is getting a kid who’s going to end up being much better than his level. When Marcel is 20, 21 years old people are going to say that was a great recruit. They’re getting a kid with tremendous upside that does not have to step in and win right away.”
Boyd now turns his attention to preparing for his senior season. He will play a key role for the Yellow Jackets, who are the 2A South Region title the past two years. Last season, Boyd averaged 7 points, 6.5 rebounds and a team-high 2.5 blocked shots per game.
Glick said Boyd’s progress from novice to an NCAA Division I scholarship in three years is impressive.
“I think Marcel has made remarkable improvement since I first got him, and all the credit goes to him and his work ethic and the hard work he put in,” Glick said. “I think Gwynn Park was an ideal situation for him because gave an opportunity to play a lot and learn from his mistakes. Playing on good teams really helped him where he didn’t have to shoulder the load.”
Boyd has spent a lot of time playing the past two summers with club teams, which he said has helped him immensely.
“I’ve been working on my footwork and all of that stuff for two years now,” Boyd said. “I played with Team Takeover my sophomore year. They helped me tremendously with my footwork. They played so many games. Then I joined Dynamic Disciples and they helped me tremendously with my coordination.”
Boyd’s conditioning has improved massively over the years, Glick said.
“Athletically, his stamina has gotten much better. Strength and coordination is much better,” he said. “In his first year, he played weak physically. He’s gotten some offensive moves where he can score consistently with a turnaround jumper and jump hook.”
In Glick’s six seasons at Gwynn Park, Boyd is the fourth Division I college player the Yellow Jackets have produced: Sean Thomas (Morgan State), Harold Washington (Canisius) and Ford (Howard).
“I’m just blessed to get the opportunity to play high school basketball and get a scholarship to a good school,” Boyd said.
Gwynn Park 6-foot-9 senior Marcel Boyd has verbally committed to play college basketball at Howard, opting for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference school over Robert Morris, according to Yellow Jackets head coach Mike Glick.
“I think Howard is a great place for him,” said Glick, who noted the Bison are getting an athletic player with tremendous upside. “Howard is a great choice for him.”
As a junior, Boyd averaged 5.5 points, six rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in guiding the Brandywine school to a 17-9 record, including a Maryland 2A state semifinal appearance.
Boyd will join former high school teammate and current Howard freshman Brandon Ford at the Washington, D.C. school.
The Bison also boast Prince George’s County products and freshmen players Prince Okoroh (Eleanor Roosevelt) and Brandon Bailey (Largo).
Boyd is among the county’s first players in the 2012 class to verbally commit to college. DeMatha seniors James Robinson (Pittsburgh) and Jerami Grant (Syracuse) have also made oral commitments to Division I college programs.
Gwynn Park lost all five starters to graduation but return seven seniors this year including Boyd and 6-foot-11, 270-pound center Kevin Walters.
Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Gwynn Park's Jarvis Hawkins takes the ball to the basket during Tuesday's Falconers Summer Basketball League playoff game against Suitland at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro. Suitland won, 29-24.
Anderson/The Gazette Suitland's Lamont Reed makes a layup during Tuesday's Falconers Summer Basketball League playoff game against Gwynn Park at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro.
Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Gwynn Park's Jarvis Hawkins takes the ball to the basket during Tuesday's Falconers Summer Basketball League playoff game against Suitland at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro. Suitland won, 29-24.
Throughout the 2010-11 season, the Gwynn Park High School boys’ basketball squad developed a reputation for inconsistent shooting, and the Yellow Jackets typically faced zone defenses as they made their run to the 2A South Region title.
Tuesday evening in the quarterfinal round of the Falconers’ Summer Basketball League at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro, the Yellow Jackets did little to alter that reputation as they fell to Suitland, 29-24.
Gwynn Park (4-5) managed only two points from rising senior Marcel Boyd in a sluggish third quarter. The Yellow Jackets, who dressed only six players for the game, did get 10 points in the game from rising senior Jarvis Hawkins, however. Suitland managed only two points in the third period as well on a layup by Dequan Doyle.
“I thought we played as good game,” Hawkins said. “I know it was tough with only six players. But we stayed with them. It was a good summer. I think we have a lot of good players coming back, and we have some players moving up [from the junior varsity team]. This whole summer league was a good experience. I think we learned a lot about working together. I think we can win the [2A South] region again. I’m confident we can do that again.”
Hawkins scored the Yellow Jackets’ first three points and later added the first four points of the second quarter, which ended with the score tied 10-10. Hawkins had a conventional 3-point play late in the fourth quarter to bring the Yellow Jackets within one at 23-22 with 2 minutes, 19 seconds remaining. But Suitland’s Keyshawn Miller countered with two buckets and Lamont Reed had one as the Rams pulled away in the final 2 minutes to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals against top-seed Riverdale Baptist.
Wednesday’s semifinal games were played after The Gazette went to press. The championship game is scheduled for 8 p.m. today at Riverdale Baptist.
Gwynn Park summer coach Spencer Way commended his undermanned squad for its effort on Tuesday and throughout the summer.
“We were a little sluggish in spots, but when you only have six players that’s going to happen,” Way said. “We tried to slow it down. We just had too many turnovers in key situations late in the game. But overall, I thought it was a good summer for these guys.”
Yellow Jackets’ rising junior Tracey Hudgens spent the previous two seasons with the junior varsity squad, but he expects to be part of the varsity team this coming winter. Hudgens connected on two jumpers in the second quarter, including the team’s only 3-pointer of the night during an 11-3 run that gave the Yellow Jackets their last lead of the game at 15-13 with 2 minutes left in the first half. Those buckets were quickly offset by two jumpers from Miller, which gave the Rams an 18-15 edge at the intermission.
“I think this summer showed me how much harder I have to work,” Hudgens said. “I watched the varsity games last year and they’re a lot better than JV. I have to improve my strength and conditioning, and I need to become more aggressive on the floor. It’s a lot tougher playing with only six players. You don’t get to rest. [Suitland] had some good shooters. I tried to stay with [Miller] but he got away from me a couple of times.”
Flowers, Gwynn Park basketball teams focused on future
Jaguars aim to keep momentum going, Gwynn Park waits for senior guard to heal
by Terron Hampton, Staff Writer
Greg Dohler/The Gazette Gwynn Park's Marcel Boyd tries to block Flowers' Brandon Green during their Falconer's Summer League game Tuesday at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro.
reg Dohler/The Gazette Gwynn Park's Ronald Whitaker takes a shot against Flowers' defender Brandon Green during a Falconer's Summer League basketball game Tuesday at Riverdale Baptist in Upper Marlboro.
Greg Dohler/The Gazette Gwynn Park's Marcel Boyd tries to block Flowers' Brandon Green during their Falconer's Summer League basketball game Tuesday at Riverdale Baptist in Upper Marlboro.
Greg Dohler/The Gazette Gwynn Park's Marcel Boyd tries to block Flowers' Brandon Green during their Falconer's Summer League game Tuesday at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro.
Charles H. Flowers High School rising junior Brandon Green said Jaguars’ boys’ basketball coach Billy Lanier rarely mentions his days at Oxon Hill.
“The only time he brings up Oxon Hill is to tell us that he has rings and we don’t,” Green said. “He mentions Oxon Hill to let us know what it takes to win.”
Two years ago, the Jaguars won just four games. Last year, they won 14 and found themselves in the 4A South Region final in their second season under Lanier, who guided Oxon Hill to Class 4A state titles in 2000 and 2003. Lanier’s passion and confidence has rubbed off on his players at Flowers.
“We feed off him and he gets into us and into our heads,” said Green, who averaged 13.5 points per game last season. “That fuels us.”
Despite losing Tuesday night’s Falconers Summer League game to Gwynn Park, 30-23, the Jaguars understand that championships are built piece by piece and by doing all of the little things that helps teams become successful.
“We just have to keep working hard in the weight room, getting better on our own,” said Flowers rising junior Brandon Holloway.
Meanwhile, Gwynn Park was without a formidable presence on Tuesday, as rising senior guard Eric Batts continues to recover from a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee, which he suffered in December. He has faced physical and mental challenges as he rehabilitates.
“It was emotional, especially when I first got the surgery,” Batts said. “Sometimes it felt like I wasn’t going to come back. It’s been real frustrating, especially considering it happened in my junior year, one of the most important years of my high school life. But I have people to push me like my family and my friends. I have great support behind me.”
Batts said he does not expect to be cleared by doctors to resume team activities until August or September.
The Yellow Jackets ended up getting hot at the right time last season, capturing the 2A South Region title before losing in the state semifinals. Batts believes the team’s fortunes may have been different had he been able to play.
“I feel like I brought that toughness to the team,” said Batts, who averaged 7.3 points per game through seven games in December. “I felt that when I went down, they got down a little bit but they got it together and started to win. I think if I would have played, we would have won the state title.”
Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick wants to make sure Batts comes back totally healed.
“I think the most important thing not only for Eric but for anybody is that they’re young and have a lot of career in front of them,” Glick said. “We want him to come back at 100 percent and not too early, and that’s the biggest thing. If he could rejoin us by January and be 100 percent, I would be elated.”
Glick said Batts has almost been like an extra assistant coach while he’s been sidelined, adding that seeing the game from that perspective will make Batts a better player once he’s back on the court.
“We really need his leadership on a team that returns no starters,” Glick said. “He’s had as good an attitude as any player I’ve coach with a major injury. He’s not depressed or down. He’s really been a great leader for our kids.”
Montrose Christian boys finish No. 1 in The Post Top 20
By Washington Post editors
The Post final boys’ rankings have a loaded Montrose Christian team atop the poll. The Mustangs won 22 of 23 games, including wins over national powers Oak Hill and Findlay Prep.
Other candidates for the top spot included Maryland 4A champion North Point (27-0), which enjoyed unprecedented success for a Southern Maryland Athletic Conference team, Interstate Athletic Conference champion Episcopal (25-3) and Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and City Title champ DeMatha (26-7).
1. Montrose Christian (22-1) Next: NHSI, Mar. 31-April 2
Maryland 2A boys basketball: Gwynn Park’s season ends on a sour note in loss to Digital Harbor
By Josh Barr, Saturday, March 12, 1:02 AM
As the final minutes ticked off the clock, there was no sobbing on the sidelines for 13th-ranked Gwynn Park. The game’s outcome had long been decided. Coach Mike Glick donned his black suit jacket well before the postgame handshake, which was interesting only for the unusually high number of tournament officials chaperoning both teams.
The Yellow Jackets fell behind early, then were routed in the second half, losing 75-45 to Digital Harbor of Baltimore in a feisty Maryland 2A semifinal on Friday night at Comcast Center.
Five days after knocking off undefeated Oakland Mills in an emotional regional final, Gwynn Park was unable to muster another big victory. The Yellow Jackets (17-9) trailed 11-6 after one quarter and 29-18 at halftime before things quickly unraveled.
Then, midway through the fourth quarter, Gwynn Park guard Daniel Henry and Digital Harbor guard Kevin Smith engaged in a lengthy staredown under the basket. That was followed by several players on both teams exchanging shoves and menacing looks. Henry and Smith were assessed technical fouls and Gwynn Park was assessed a team technical foul, apparently for having players come off the bench.
The game finished without further incident, though there was plenty of tension.
“I’m not used to it, we’re not used to being in that situation,” Glick said. “We’re usually very resilient and can get back in games. It was a weird feeling. I was glad we kept our composure and were able to shake hands at the end.
“We were thoroughly outplayed in every aspect of the game. It doesn’t detract from our season, but it’s tough to end our season on this note.”
Henry led Gwynn Park with 15 points. But leading scorer Brandon Ford, who entered averaging 18 points, was held to a season-low two as Digital Harbor played a box-and-one defense on him.
“We studied the film on YouTube, that’s all we had,” said Rams Coach Johnnie Grimes, whose team is trying for its second state title in three seasons. “It worked.”
Digital Harbor (15-7) advanced to Saturday’s 6 p.m. final against Easton, which defeated South Carroll, 69-52.
Three Rams players post double-doubles in 75-45 rout. (VIDEOS COMING)
RAMS ON A ROLL: (from left) Daquan Cook, Kevin Smith and Nyme Manns combined for 38 points in the win.
VIDEO GALLERY
At the start of the season, Digital Harbor’s boys basketball coach Johnnie Grimes knew that he had a collective group of talented players. But with several transfer and first-year players, he also knew that it would take a while for the team to build its chemistry.
After the Rams’ dominating performance in Friday night’s Class 2A state semifinals against Gwynn Park, it’s hard to believe that this squad hasn’t played together for a couple of years.
The Baltimore City school had three players tally double-doubles on its way to a dominating, 75-45, rout over the Yellow Jackets of Prince George’s County at the University of Maryland.
“Right now, they are really, really jelling and they are giving so much of a big effort on the defensive end, especially in rebounding the ball,” Grimes said of his team.
“In the beginning, we knew that we could jell but we started off bad,” junior guard Daquan Cook explained. “But we knew that we would come together. We practiced hard every day.”
Digital Harbor began the season with a 3-3 mark but slowly started to play as a cohesive unit as the year wore on. In last Friday’s 2A North Regional championship, the Rams avenged an earyl season loss to Edmondson by stunning the Red Storm, 80-55, to claim the title.
Digital turned in another impressive win at the Comcast Center. Junior Antonio Manns led the way with a game-high 16 points and 11 rebounds. Cook filled the stat sheet with 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Nyme Manns added 15 points and 10 boards. Senior Kevin Smith contributed eight points.
Daniel Henry had 15 points, while Tion Barnes and Jalen Harris each had 9 for Gwynn Park (17-9).
“I think we came into the season with not much chemistry,” said Antonio Manns. “We had a lot of transfers and then once we got ourselves together, we just started playing together and going hard…We just want to go out and play strong and play together.”
The Rams (15-7) scored the first seven points of the game behind a jumper by Antonio Manns, a layup by Cook and a three-point play from Nyme Manns. Gwynn Park closed to within 7-4 with 3:33 left in the first quarter but that was the closest the Jackets would get over the remaining 27 minutes.
Digital Harbor pushed the lead to 29-18 at halftime. Ronald Epps (seven points) finished a putback inside, Antonio Manns scored inside and Nyme Manns flushed a one-handed jam in a decisive 13-3 run in the third quarter to open the Rams’ lead to 44-26 midway through the period.
Ahead by 21 points entering the fourth quarter, Digital Harbor finished off Gwynn Park with an 11-0 run to push their advantage to 32 points.
The Rams dominated in every phase of the game. They out-rebounded the taller Yellow Jackets, 49-29, including grabbing 14 offensive boards. Digital Harbor was quicker to loose balls and played unselfishly. Of the 29 field goals that they scored, 15 of those buckets were assisted.
“On this night, we got beat by a better team. I thought Digital Harbor played great,” said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. “They had an excellent game plan…In this game we were thoroughly outplayed in every aspect of the game.”
The Rams will face Easton, a 69-52 winner over South Carroll on Friday, in the Class 2A state championship tomorrow, Saturday, at 5 p.m. Digital Harbor is looking for its second state crown in three years after winning the Class 1A title in 2009.
Digital Harbor boys cruise to Class 2A state final
By Glenn Graham, The Baltimore Sun
10:16 p.m. EST, March 11, 2011
COLLEGE PARK
Mid-November through the month or so that followed — a time when the Digital Harbor boys basketball team was more like an uneven collection of individual talent — is now a distant memory.
No more struggling to identify roles. No more having one player or the next trying to do too much. No more losses.
The surging Rams, who started the season with a 2-4 mark, have turned the corner and then some.
Taking turns stepping up on offense, rebounding at both ends and playing solid team defense, the No. 6 Rams proved too tough to handle for Gwynn Park in the Class 2A state semifinals, coming away with a dominating 75-45 win over the Yellow Jackets from Prince George's County Friday night at Comcast Center.
A state champion in Class 1A in 2009, Digital Harbor (15-7) will try to add a 2A crown when it returns to Comcast Center on Saturday to meet the South Carroll-Easton winner. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
Antonio Manns (16 points, 11 rebounds), Nyme Manns (15, 11) and Daquan Cook (15, 10) — all junior transfers — registered double doubles as Digital Harbor shot 50 percent from the field and outrebounded the Yellow Jackets (17-9), 49-29.
"I think we came into the season with not much chemistry — we had a lot of transfers — and then once we got ourselves together, we just started playing together and going hard. We just want o go out and play strong and play together," said Antonio Manns.
That was certainly the case in Friday's stunning win over Gwynn Park, which lost to City in last year's title game but was banking on that experience pulling them through this year.
The Rams led 29-18 at the half and methodically pulled away in the third quarter. Five different players scored in the pivotal quarter — Cook leading the way with eight — as the Rams took a 53-32 lead into the final quarter.
Senior point guard Kevin Smith, who scored eight points and took care of the basketball, isn't surprised the team is one win away from a state title.
"Yeah, that was our goal from the beginning — to get to where we are today. We had a setback with the losses, but we still had our goal," said Smith, who transferred from Huntington Prep in West Virginia. "We just started over at practice, started from the basics and worked our way up. It's paying off."
After a tough 68-65 loss to No. 4 Dunbar to end their regular season, the Rams hit their stride in the tough Class 2A North region, grinding out a 72-70 road win at Lake Clifton in an early-round game before avenging an 83-66 loss against Edmondson with an 80-55 statement performance for the regional crown.
Gwynn Park falls to Digital Harbor in 2A semifinal
Cold shooting ends Yellow Jackets chance at state title
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
Christopher Anderson/The Gazette
Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford (left) drives to the basket during Friday night's 2A state semifinal game against Digital Harbor at the Comcast Center in College Park.
The Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team had legitimate hopes this season of breaking the program's 23-year state title drought. But the Yellow Jackets will have to wait until 2012 to win the school's elusive 11th state championship banner, as Gywnn Park lost 75-45 to Digital Harbor on Friday night in the Class 2A state semifinals.
This season Gwynn Park had nearly its entire roster returning after last year's squad lost in the 2A state title game. But early foul trouble and poor shooting brought an end to the Yellow Jackets' championship hopes on the floor of the Comcast Center in College Park.
Gwynn Park, which has 10 state championships in its storied history, was making its fifth appearance in the state tournament in nine seasons. But the Yellow Jackets are still seeking the Brandywine school's first state title since 1988. Gwynn Park's loss means Prince George's County will go without a state champion in boys' basketball for the third consecutive season. The county's other two state tournament participants - Class 4A Eleanor Roosevelt and Class 3A Friendly - suffered semifinal losses on Thursday.
"On this night, we got beat by a better team," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "I thought Digital Harbor played great. They had an excellent game plan. We shot as poorly as we had all season. I thought they just outplayed us in every aspect of the game."
The Yellow Jackets shot just 24 percent from the field (14 of 58) and were outrebounded by a margin of 49-29.
Digital Harbor generated most of its points on the fast break as Gwynn Park struggled to get back down the floor in transition to stop the onslaught. An 11-point halftime deficit ballooned to 21 by the end of the third quarter before Digital Harbor finished off a 30-point rout.
Brandon Ford, the Yellow Jackets' leading scorer during the season (18 points per game), hit 1 of 9 from the floor and was held to a season-low two points. Senior guard Daniel Henry led Gwynn Park with 15 points and three rebounds, while senior forward Tion Barnes had nine points and seven rebounds.
"It's tough because everybody was missing shots that we normally make," Ford said. "We were missing tip-ins, it's hard. We just couldn't make anything."
The Rams got a balanced effort, led by guard Daquan Cook, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Nyme Manns chipped in 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Antonio Manns had 16 points and 11 rebounds.
"I like the unselfish play of my team at all levels," said Digital Harbor coach Johnnie Grimes. "We have balanced scoring and that's how we've been playing all year long. It's just a matter of us jelling."
Digital Harbor 75, Gwynn Park 45
Digital Harbor 11 18 24 22 -- 75
Gwynn Park 6 12 14 13 -- 45
Digital Harbor: Daquan Cook 15, Kevin Smith 8, Ronald Epps 7, Nyme Manns 15, Antonio Manns 16, Tyrone Williams 2, Gabe Shango 2, Dominic Barnes 7, Devante Conyers 2, D'Aris Smith 1.
Gwynn Park: Brian Hall 1, Brandon Ford 2, Nick Walton 2, Daniel Henry 15, Tion Barnes 9, Jarvis Hawkins 6, Jalen Harris 9, Hershel Grant 1.
In Gwynn Park's third appearance in the state final four in the last four years, the Yellow Jackets' dreams of winning the 2A championship were shattered again as they fell to Digital Harbor 75-45.
Digital Harbor opened the game on a 7-0 run and never looked backed. Afterwards, their coach Johnnie Grimes talked about his defensive strategy against Gwynn Park's star guard Brandon Ford. "He's the one that makes them go - he does it all. We just needed to take him out of the game," he said.
Ford couldn't find his rhythm, Gwynn Park senior forward Tion Barnes picked up two quick fouls, and the team shot only 29 percent in the first half. Still, Gwynn Park went into the half only down 29-18.
The third quarter is where Digital Harbor ran away with the game, though, as Gwynn Park's poor shooting continued in the 2nd half. The Yellow Jackets missed layups, midrange jump shots and 3 pointers; Gwynn Park shot an awful 14-58 from the field overall.
Their poor shooting led to many fast break points for Digital Harbor. Gwynn Park struggled with its transition defense and on the glass, they were out-rebounded 49-29.
And the easy transition buckets buried them into a deficit they could not overcome.
The Yellow Jackets started the fourth quarter down 53-32 and their hopes of making it to tomorrow's 2A final slowly dwindled away.
Despite being down big in the fourth quarter, Gwynn Park's effort never lessened. "I was still enjoying the game, it was my final game," said Ford. "I wish I was still playing right now."
Senior guard Daniel Henry led the Yellow Jackets with 15 points and three rebounds, while Barnes added nine and seven. And Digital Harbor junior forward Antonio Manns led all scorers with 16 points and added 11 rebounds.
After having a season full of ups and downs, a tough conference schedule and being battle tested in Maryland's state tournament, Gwynn Park, the Maryland Class 2A South Regional Champs, finished the season 17-9.
Saturday, March 12
Digital Harbor 75 Gwynn Park 45
Friday Semifinal's Digital Harbor 75 Gwynn Park 45
Friday's headliner was Digital Harbor out of Baltimore City and the Gwynn Park Yellow Jackets out of PG County in the first 2A semi-final. Gwynn Park was making their third trip to the Comcast Center in the last 4 years and was stacked with high-profile seniors and a boatload of experience. Gwynn Park is led by their tandem of 1,000 point scorers Tion Barnes and Brandon Ford. Digital Harbor is led by their dynamic back court of Daquan Cook and Kevin Smith. Both teams have strong supporting casts. Outside of a couple 4A schools Digital Harbor may be the hottest team in the state. Almost their entire starting line-up transferred in from other schools for the 2010-11 campaign. It took some time for the Rams to gel but they are currently clicking on all cylinders.
On Friday evening one team's season had to end. Digital Harbor came out very aggressive and used a box-and-one for almost the entire game on Yellow Jacket Brandon Ford. Tion Barnes picked up two very early fouls. From the get go Digital Harbor dominated the game in all phases. They outrebounded the Yellow Jackets 49-29. They shot 50% from the field while holding Gwynn Park to just 24.1%. It was a humiliating loss for the 2A south regional champions. At the half Gwynn Park trailed by a 11 and seemed lucky to be that close. The game was certainly in striking distance as the teams came out of the locker rooms. But the Rams intensity was dominant and no Yellow Jackets could get on track. The loan bright spot for Gwynn Park was senior Daniel Henry who continued his stellar post season play scoring 15 points in 27 minutes. Gwynn Park had multiple players in foul trouble throughout and coach Mike Glick tinkered with many different lineups. Digital Harbor is a heavy favorite to bring home the hardware. A 25 point win versus Edmondson in the regional final and a 30 point trouncing over Gwynn Park in the state semifinal are two exceptional outings.
Yellow Jackets return to Comcast Center with a purpose
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball coach Mike Glick said that if the Yellow Jackets are going to win the Brandywine program's first state title since 1988, this will be the year.
Gwynn Park (17-8) has been itching for the opportunity to play for a championship all season, after losing the Class 2A state final last year. But before the Yellow Jackets can play in Saturday's championship game, they will have to beat Baltimore City's Digital Harbor in a semifinal, set for a 7 p.m. tipoff Friday at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Prince George's County teams have not had much luck facing off against Baltimore schools in the past decade, and the Yellow Jackets are aiming to change that.
"They are a very good team and a team that is similar to us," Glick said of the Digital Harbor. "They had an up and down regular season and had a tough schedule but they responded and got better as the season went on. Our work is cut out for us, but we're up to the challenge because we've been there before."
With most of last season's roster returning this winter, including three starters, the Yellow Jackets appeared poised for a strong regular season. But they struggled until late January, when they began to hit their stride. Entering Friday's contest against the Rams, the Yellow Jackets have won eight out of their last nine, including a 52-48 victory before a raucous crowd last Friday at previously unbeaten Oakland Mills in the 2A South Region final.
Much of the team's success has revolved around the play senior guard Brandon Ford, who has committed to play for Howard University next season.
"Right now we feel like we can't be beat," said Ford, who is averaging 18 points per game and has a team-high 53 steals this season. "Last year, we felt like we left it all on the court. We still feel as though we have to take every game like our last. We learned from last year to keep our head. Teams try to rattle us, and when we lose we beat ourselves."
The Rams enter the game at 14-7 in their first season as a Class 2A school, moving up from the 1A classification. Coach Johnnie Grimes said the team had to go through some adjustments but said he believes the Rams are ready for the challenge.
"We realized since we've moved up that the competition has gotten tougher," Grimes said." We had a few transfers and a lot of people wanted instant gratification, but we didn't get it. But going through a schedule in which we played five of the top 10 schools in Baltimore City, and getting our bumps and bruises, proved that we have made the sacrifices to get better as the season went on."
The Rams rely on guards Daquan Cook (14 points, seven rebounds, six assists per game) and Kevin Smith (12 points, five rebounds, eight assists) along with swingman Antonio Manns (16 points, 10 rebounds). The Rams avenged a regular season loss by rolling over Edmondson, 80-55, in the 2A North Region final.
Perhaps a key factor in Friday's game will be the play of senior guard Daniel Henry (10.6 points per game), who has played an increasingly significant role in the past month. Henry led the Yellow Jackets with 21 points in the pressure-packed 2A South Region final victory over Oakland Mills.
Gwynn Park senior forward Tion Barnes (15.1 points, 8.3 rebounds per game) said the team is on a mission.
"The feeling is good for us, but we're never forgetting that game we lost [last season] against City," Barnes said. "I put that game on me because I didn't play with heart that game and I'm not trying to let that happen again. It's still not out my system because we haven't won the state championship yet. Our confidence level is above the roof right now."
thampton@gazette.net
2A Boys State Semifinals
Gwynn Park (17-8) vs. Digital Harbor (14-7)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Comcast Center, College Park
Players to watch:
Gwynn Park: Brandon Ford (18 points per game, 3 assists per game); Tion Barnes (15.1 ppg, 8.3 rebounds per game); Daniel Henry (10.6 ppg).
Digital Harbor: Antonio Manns (16 ppg, 10 rpg); Daquan Cook (14 ppg, 7 rpg, 6 apg).
Daniel Henry saw an opening on the left wing and drove to the basket. As a defender banged into his body, the Gwynn Park senior guard deftly banked the ball in the basket and then converted a free throw for the biggest three-point play of the Yellow Jackets' season, and they held on for a 52-48 victory over 10th-ranked Oakland Mills in the Maryland 2A South region final before a sold-out crowd of 1,500 in Columbia.
"I knew they couldn't guard me, so I wanted to take it to the rack," Henry said. "I didn't want to lose."
In a rematch of last year's regional final that was emotionally charged from the opening tip, neither team led by more than seven points. Gwynn Park (17-8) trailed most of the way before rallying for its third regional title in four years and ending Oakland Mills's season with its only blemish against 25 victories.
"It was the craziest place I ever played in my life," Henry said. "The craziest game I ever played in. The atmosphere was just crazy."
The Scorpions' star senior forward, Greg Whittington, finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks despite being the focus of a diamond-and-one defense that also double-teamed Whittington every time he touched the ball.
Still, it was Whittington's three-point shot from the left corner in transition that gave Oakland Mills a 47-44 lead with less than two minutes left.
But guard Brandon Ford (19 points) answered with a quick drive to the basket for Gwynn Park. After a quick miss, Henry hurried down the court, and his three-point play gave the Yellow Jackets the lead for good at 49-48 with just more than one minute left.
"We had been looking for someone to assume the [role of a] third scorer and with three weeks left in the season Daniel Henry stepped up," Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick said. "He's been the difference our last three weeks."
Oakland Mills, who entered the game perfect at 25-0 had a decisive home court advantage in Columbia, Maryland on Friday night. Gary Williams and the entire Maryland coaching staff were on hand to see the highly coveted Greg Whittington. Everything seemed lined up for the Oakland Mills to win the 2A South regional Championship and make the trip to the Comcast Center for the state semifinals. But Gwynn Park played spoiler behind a magnificent defensive effort and some big time perimeter shooting.
As the game started it was clear that Gwynn Park was going to have to play a disciplined game and do everything in their power to stop Gregg Whittington from exploding. Things didn't start out according to plan for the Yellow Jackets. They were held scoreless for the first 7 minutes and 11 seconds of the game. Luckily, Oakland Mills only put 7 points on the board in that span. Brandon Ford got the Yellow Jackets on the board with a 3-pointer with 49 seconds left in the 1st. From there Gwynn Park opened up their perimeter shooting as they connected for 5 trey balls over the next 7 minutes. Oakland Mills' two leading scorers, Greg Whittington and Joe Kiely had solid first halves as well as they combined for 17 of the Scorpions 21 first half points. From the get-go Gwynn Park played a diamond-and-one defense with 4 players in a zone and the loan roamer following Whittington step for step. Oakland Mills held a 21-19 lead as the game went to half.
Oakland Mills started the second half out the same way they started out Wednesday night's second half in their victory over Douglass. They got out to a sizable lead after hitting the locker rooms virtually even. Oakland Mills grew the lead out to 33-26 after Greg Whittington made a pair from the line with 2:14 left in the third. The crowd was in a frenzy and it seemed like Oakland Mills was going to run away with it but the Yellow Jackets kept fighting.. and fighting. Daniel Henry hit a running layup plus the foul with 2:08 remaining in the third. After connecting on the free throw the crowd settled down and Gwynn Park was within 4. The fourth quarter proved to be a back and forth clash as both teams exchanged buckets. Midway through the 4th Gwynn Park reeled of 6 unanswered and looked to be in control as the game was coming down to the wire. With 3:03 left Oakland Mills point guard Joe Kiely hit a huge 3 to tie the game at 44.
One minute and 7 seconds later Greg Whittington broke the tie with a deep 3 and it looked like Oakland Mills was in control. But seconds later Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford rushed the ball up the court and hit a driving layup to cut the lead to one with 1:43 remaining. On the ensuing possession Greg Whittington missed a turnaround jumper and the games MVP, Gwynn Parks Daniel Henry pushed the ball up the court and hit a difficult and 1 to put Gwynn Park up for good. After hitting the free throw the Yellow Jackets led 49-47. Oakland Mills would only score 1 more point the rest of the way and after Gwynn Park hit a couple big free throws to seal it the party started for the PG county school and approximately 400 of their fans who were lucky enough to make it into the gym.
The story of the game was Gwynn Parks trio of seniors who all stepped up and had incredible games on the biggest stage. While Tion Barnes only scored 6 points he went off for 18 rebounds and 6 blocks and was a menace inside. He gave three very hard fouls to driving Oakland Mills players that really sent a message. Oakland Mills was very hesitant to bring the ball inside in the half court setting. Almost all of their points in the paint came in transition. Daniel Henry played the game of his life as he has really stepped up under the bright lights. Henry went for 22 points on the night including 16 in the second half and seemed to hit every clutch bucket that Gwynn Park needed. Brandon Ford played a tremendous game as well, scoring 20 including four 3-pointers. The role players played their roles very well, all helping out in stopping Whittington.
The Yellow Jackets advance to the Comcast Center at University of Maryland on Friday at 7PM as they will face off with Digiatl Harbor of Baltimore who upset Edmondson on Friday night by a score of 80-55 in the 2A North Regional championship.
Yellow Jackets earn hard-fought victory against previously unbeaten Oakland Mills
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
It technically was just a game.
But Friday's contest between the Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team and Oakland Mills for the 2A South Region title played out more like a prize fight. In a closely contested battle with multiple momentum swings - and with University of Maryland coach Gary Williams among the capacity crowd - Gwynn Park handed the Scorpions their first loss of the season, earning a difficult 52-48 victory in Columbia.
"It was the craziest place I ever played in my life," said Yellow Jackets' guard Daniel Henry, who thrived in the charged atmosphere. The senior scored a game-high 21 points, outpacing Scorpions' star forward Greg Whittington (19 points). Henry also led the way for Gwynn Park Wednesday night, when he scored 20 points in a 76-62 semifinal win at Glenelg.
"I just wanted to take it to the rack," said Henry, whose clutch drive to the basket for a 3-point play with 1 minute, 7 seconds remaining in the game gave the Yellow Jackets a 49-47 lead that they never relinquished.
As he has done in the absence of junior guard Eric Batts, who has missed two-thirds of the season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament, Henry set the pace for the Yellow Jackets, who also got a huge game from star senior guard Brandon Ford (17 points).
"Our season changed when we lost Eric Batts for the season and we lost our third scorer," Glick said. "With about three weeks left in the season, Daniel stepped up and really helped us out offensively."
The Yellow Jackets trailed by seven points on two occasions in third quarter before fighting back to take their first lead since the second quarter on two free throws by Henry. Oakland Mills went ahead again, taking a 47-44 lead with 1:19 remaining the contest. But the Yellow Jackets shot well from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, starting the quarter 12-for-13, which kept them in the back-and-forth affair.
Gwynn Park (17-8) has won eight of its last nine games, and now turns its attention to the state semifinals. The Yellow Jackets will take on 2A North Region champion Digital Harbor at 7 p.m. March 11 at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. Digital Harbor rolled to an 80-55 win against Edmonson in the 2A North final on Friday.
Gwynn Park 52, Oakland Mills 48
Gwynn Park (17-8) 5 14 17 16 - 52
Oakland Mills (25-1) 7 14 17 10 - 48
Gwynn Park: Daniel Henry 21, Brandon Ford 17, Nick Walton 4, Tion Barnes 6.
Oakland Mills: Joe Kiely 15, Greg Whittington 19, Kerry Bethea 6, James Peters 4.
Yellow Jackets to visit undefeated Oakland Mills on Friday
by Aaron Kraut | Special to The Gazette
Seniors Brandon Ford and Tion Barnes are known quantities - the two leading scorers for the Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team
What Yellow Jackets' coach Mike Glick didn't know after junior guard Eric Batts suffered a season-ending injury in December was who would step up and fill the role of the team's third scorer.
In Gwynn Park's 76-62 win Wednesday at No. 2 seed Glenelg in a 2A South Region semifinal, senior guard Daniel Henry filled that void. It couldn't have come at a better time.
Henry led the No. 3 seed Yellow Jackets (16-8) with 20 points and spurred an 11-5 run to end the third quarter that allowed Gwynn Park to regain the lead. He then added two critical driving layups in the fourth quarter to help the Yellow Jackets extend their advantage and advance to the 2A South Region final, set for 7 p.m. Friday at Oakland Mills High in Columbia. Top-seeded Oakland Mills remained undefeated (25-0) with a 55-42 victory against Frederick Douglass in the other 2A South semifinal on Wednesday.
"It's hard to beat us when we have three scorers you can't stop," Henry said. "Ever since [Batts] went down, I've tried to step up."
Ford and Barnes finished with 18 and 16 points, respectively. But it was Henry who provided Gwynn Park's most steady offensive effort. The Yellow Jackets dominated the first quarter and led 25-14 after eight minutes. But the Gladiators (16-8) slowly inched to within three points by halftime.
Ford, a Howard University recruit, is one of Prince George's County's top scorers, averaging 18.3 points per game. Barnes, a 6-foot-5 forward, averages 15.4 per contest. Ford had just three points in the first half, while Barnes had nine, and Glenelg's emphasis on stopping those two was evident.
It remained so in the opening minutes of the third quarter, when the Gladiators opened with an 11-4 run to take a 42-38 lead. With three minutes left and the momentum now firmly with Glenelg, Henry made a layup, then a put back attempt on the possession after a Ford basket. The game was tied and the Yellow Jackets slowly rebuilt their lead until Henry spun to the basket and scored to give Gwynn Park a commanding 64-56 advantage with 1:36 left in the game.
"The kid was able to come in and spark us offensively," Glick said. "We've struggled this year when we haven't scored the ball. We've been a pretty good defensive team. We took the best that Glenelg had and that's the best we've responded to adversity all year."
It was an especially satisfying performance for Henry, who averaged less than seven points in the Yellow Jackets' last five regular season games.
"I didn't want to lose and I didn't want to leave anything out on the floor," Henry said. "I just played hard. If we're down five or up five in the second half, that's our game. So if we just keep playing, we'll get the win."
Gwynn Park 76, Glenelg 62
Gwynn Park 25 9 16 26 - 76
Glenelg 14 17 16 15 - 62
Gwynn Park (16-8): Daniel Henry 20, Brandon Ford 18, Tion Barnes 16, Brian Hall 13, Nick Walton 4, Jarvis Hawkins 2, Hershel Grant 2, Terrence Johnson 1.
Glenelg (16-8): Shane Kellaher 18, Troy Spurrier 15, Joe Tolbert 14, Jake True 5, Ryan Griffin 3, Erik Sigfried 3, Robbie Mullinix 2, Matt Hyer 2.
Yellow Jackets hit century mark, get set for trip to Glenelg
by Kaitlyn Carr | Special to The Gazette
The Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team executed a dominating press and scored at will in a 100-50 victory against Long Reach High of Columbia in a 2A South Region quarterfinal game in Brandywine on Monday night.
The Yellow Jackets (15-8) will advance to the 2A South Regional Semifinal on Wednesday when they will travel to second-seeded Glenelg High School in Howard County to face what should be tougher competition than they encountered Monday night. Glenelg was a 72-58 winner against Marriotts Ridge in another regional quarterfinal on Monday.
From the opening minutes, Gwynn Park dominated Long Reach (3-21). The Yellow Jackets jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the first three minutes of the contest, forcing two turnovers, and blocking a shot as they ran the floor in a fast-paced game.
"We really wanted to make them play at our tempo," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "We wanted to push it and force the issue - and I think we did a great job of that. I felt like our guys really executed the game tonight."
Long Reach was virtually powerless to do anything against the Yellow Jackets' press and committed 14 turnovers in the first half as Gwynn Park took a 49-12 lead into halftime.
"A team from Howard County is not used to the press out here, so we wanted to use that to our advantage," said Gwynn Park guard Daniel Henry, who led the team with 22 points.
The Yellow Jackets dominated the second half as well, eventually hitting the 100-point mark for the second time this season.
"It felt good," said Henry. "It was the seniors' last game at home so we wanted to come out and play hard. It's the playoffs so we didn't want to lose."
The Yellow Jackets will face a much more challenging Glenelg team on Wednesday night, but plan to prepare like they would for any other game.
"We are going to prepare the same way we always do," said forward Tion Barnes who had 20 points against Long Reach. "We're just going to work harder. We'll forget this game and come out and practice hard."
One thing Gwynn Park will need to address in practice is free-throw shooting. The Yellow Jackets shot just 41 percent from the line against Long Reach - a low percentage that could come back to haunt them against more rigorous competition.
"It has been our greatest weakness the whole entire year," said Glick of the Yellow Jackets' free-throw shooting. "That's something we will have to do a better job of on Wednesday - knock down our free throws and get into our press."
The fast-paced tempo is something Gwynn Park will look to continue against Glenelg, but the Yellow Jackets expect they will have to execute some of their fundamentals better if they are going to come away with a win.
"I think we play our best when we are up-tempo," Glick said. "Glenelg is a very disciplined and a very smart team. Being on their home court will be a different style of play, and we're going to have to play a little better than we did today."
Eagles sweep season series from County 3A/2A/1A League rival
by Kaitlyn Carr | Special to The Gazette
The Frederick Douglass High School boys' basketball team utilized a 2-3 zone defense to shut down Gwynn Park big man Tion Barnes, and the Eagles finished the regular season with a 78-65 victory against the Yellow Jackets in Brandywine on Thursday night.
From Gwynn Park's first possession it was clear that Douglass' game plan was to shut down Barnes, the a 6-foot-5 senior forward who averages 15.1 points per game. Barnes managed to score 14 points Thursday, but the Eagles (15-7) tripled teamed him in the paint and forced him into early foul trouble.
Douglass coach Tyrone Massenburg said shutting down Barnes was a big part of the game plan.
"Yeah it definitely was, he is a big impact on their team," said Massenburg. "When he gets going they feed off his energy, and we tried to make him work as hard as he could. He still had some highlight plays, but I think we did a pretty good job."
The game was tied 15-15 at the end of the first quarter. However, with three minutes to go in the second quarter Barnes picked up his third foul on a charge and was forced to the bench, and that would be all the motivation the Eagles needed.
Douglass senior forward Timmone Whatley was one of several Eagles to play solid defense against Barnes.
"He was going to sit in the middle and try to make something happen for his team," said Whatley. "So we just tried to collapse in the middle whenever he got the ball."
With Barnes on the bench in foul trouble, Douglass went on an 8-2 run to take a 32-25 lead into halftime.
"When [Barnes] picked up his third foul we had to sub him out and I think that changed the course of the game," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick.
The Eagles maintained their momentum into the third quarter thanks in large part to forward Kavon Glover, who scored 10 of his 23 points during that period.
"He's our leading scorer, so we wanted him to get aggressive especially because they were in a little bit in foul trouble," Massenburg said. "He felt it a little bit and when he feels it he doesn't have any problems."
In the fourth quarter, Gwynn Park (14-8) looked as if it might rally. With two minutes to go the Yellow Jackets cut the Eagles lead to 12 points, thanks to senior guard Brandon Ford. The Howard University recruit was 6 of 6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and 10 of 11 at the line for the game en route to a 30-point night.
Gywnn Park also started to make use of its press, which frazzled Douglass and forced some turnovers, but it wasn't enough.
"It's hard to press the whole entire game," said Glick. "We were right where we wanted to be in a low-scoring game, but [Douglass] made some great shots. I was really proud of how our kids responded in the fourth quarter playing hard at the end of the game."
Douglass got the better of Gwynn Park twice this season - the Eagles beat the Yellow Jackets 59-52 in January - and now the two rivals head into the 2A South Region playoffs, where both will be serious contenders to reach the region final. Gwynn Park beat Douglass in the regional semifinals last year.
Opening-round playoff games will be played next Friday, followed by the quarterfinals the week of Feb. 28.
"We understand it's the playoffs now," Massenburg said. "It is zero - zero now. Everything we did in the regular season was good then, but it doesn't really mean anything now, if we have to play Gwynn Park again. We just have to refocus and try to make a run in the playoffs."
Douglass 78, Gwynn Park 65
Douglass 15 17 24 22 - 78
Gwynn Park 15 10 14 26 - 65
Douglass (15-7) Kavon Glover 23, Timmone Whatley 17, Jeffrey Calhoun 15, Jasahn Johnson 13, Vincent Williams 8, Babajide Tomiye 2.
Gwynn Park (14-8) Brandon Ford 30, Tion Barns 14, Daniel Henry 9, Nick Walton 8, Jarvis Hawkins 2.
Star guard changes college choice, picking Howard over Loyola, then hits game-winner vs. Fairmont Heights
by Aaron Kraut | Special to The Gazette
Gwynn Park High School senior guard Brandon Ford admitted the college recruiting process took a mental toll on him until last Thursday, the day he verbally committed to Howard University.
So Ford's go-ahead layup with nine seconds remaining in the Yellow Jackets' 62-61 win Tuesday at Fairmont Heights meant more than just a game winning shot. It showed Gwynn Park's leading scorer, now free of recruiting distractions, is ready for a deep playoff run in his senior season.
"My coaches were saying it looked like I was not myself. I wasn't having fun," said Ford, who verbally committed to Loyola University last October before changing his mind and deciding on Howard. "It was on my mind for a while. Now that I've committed to Howard, it's cleared a lot of mental space. I did not want to lose this game."
Ford led Gwynn Park (14-7 overall, 14-4 County 3A/2A/1A League) with 23 points, none more important than his full-court drive and layup to win the game.
Guard Julian Livingston led Fairmont Heights with 22 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with 2:28 left that gave the Hornets a 59-58 lead. But he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 14.2 seconds left, setting the stage for Ford's basket.
Ford wasn't at his best Tuesday, struggling from the field in the third quarter, but he scored Gwynn Park's last seven points.
"In the second half, he struggled shooting the basketball and finishing, but he's our go-to guy," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "I think he's playing a little bit more relaxed just because he doesn't have to worry about impressing coaches and going through the recruiting process."
Forward Tion Barnes (22 points) paced Gwynn Park early, scoring the team's first six points and 13 in the first half.
The Hornets (7-15, 5-13) stayed with the Yellow Jackets throughout, a vast improvement from the teams' first meeting on Jan. 14, when Fairmont Heights was 76-52 loser.
The Hornets trailed, 30-29, at the half but used a 14-7 run in the first five minutes of the third quarter to take a 43-29 lead. The game was tied, 46-46, heading into the fourth period.
"I thought we had the right kind of game for how we play them, and I thought we handled everything Gwynn Park threw at us," said Fairmont Heights coach George Wake. "We didn't make one play. That's all it was. We make one more play, we win the basketball game."
After falling behind, 55-50, with about four minutes left in the game, Livingston hit a 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of the 6-foot-5 Barnes.
After a Ford 3-pointer, the Hornets scored six unanswered points. But it was the newly committed Ford who scored five points in the game's final minute.
He couldn't have been more relieved. And his focus for the rest of the season couldn't be clearer.
"Now, I can just relax and play basketball," Ford said. "We overlooked [Fairmont Heights] and it won't happen again. I promise you it won't happen again. We're not losing until states. We're not even losing then."
Gwynn Park 62, Fairmont Heights 61
Gwynn Park (14-7, 14-4) 15 15 16 16 - 62
Fairmont Heights (7-15, 5-13) 15 14 17 15 - 61
Gwynn Park: Brandon Ford 23, Tion Barnes 22, Brian Hall 11, Marcel Boyd 2, Kevin Walters 2, Daniel Henry 2.
Along with Largo forward Brandon Bailey, that gives Howard three local high school seniors who plan to enroll as freshman next school year.
"They finally got some local recruiters," Gonzaga Coach Steve Turner said, noting that assistant coaches Travis Lyons and Keith Coutreyer have longstanding ties to the area. Lyons is a DeMatha graduate and Coutreyer previously was the coach at Laurel High.
Those local ties were especially handy when it came to recruiting Ford. Nickelberry and Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick once were assistant coaches together at Columbia Union College, when Coutreyer played for the school. When Glick was hired as the head coach at Pallotti, Nickelberry came along as his assistant.
Yellow Jackets notch road victory at league co-leader Surrattsville
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
The Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team is starting to feel like it did at this point last season.
In February 2010, the Yellow Jackets were flying high, leading the County 3A/2A/1A League and feeling like a deep run in the playoffs was ahead.
And it was.
The Yellow Jackets advanced to the Class 2A state title game, where they lost to Baltimore's City College High. Fast forward to Tuesday night's game at Surrattsville, and the Yellow Jackets were beaming with the same level of confidence, albeit in much different circumstances.
Gwynn Park has not enjoyed the same amount of regular season success this year. Still, the Yellow Jackets left Surrattsville High's gym feeling like they had their swagger back after a 72-68 victory against the Hornets. In beating the County 3A/2A/1A League co-leaders, Gwynn Park showed as much resolve as it has the entire season.
"We're back," Yellow Jackets' senior Tion Barnes said with a big smile. "Everybody has gotten together and everybody knows their roles. These are like my brothers out there."
Gwynn Park (12-7) has won three in a row and seven of its last nine and is now 11-4 in the league. Surrattsville dropped to 15-4 overall and 12-3 in the league, and the Hornets have lost two of their last three games.
Yellow Jackets' senior guard Brandon Ford exploded for 32 points, 19 of which came in the second half, as Gwynn park turned a five-point lead entering the fourth quarter into a 16-point cushion before Surrattsville staged a furious comeback in the final minute of the game. Barnes scored 16 points, including six points by way of three huge slams that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Ford said the turning point for the Yellow Jackets came with back-to-back losses to Friendly and Frederick Douglass on Jan. 28 and 31, before the team's recent win streak.
"In the second half of the Douglass game, we fought back from 20 points, although we came up short," Ford said. "In the Friendly game, we were down big again and our comeback jumpstarted our momentum. Ever since then, we have been rolling. We're peaking at the right time and we're not losing again this season."
"We played with great composure tonight, which was the best we've shown all season," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "I really see us turning the corner and it started last week. We're very focused. I think losing took a toll on us, but it was that losing that has brought them together."
The tone in the Surrattsville locker room was not nearly as optimistic. The Hornets had solid performances from guards Alexander Noble (18 points) and Chaz White (17 points), but most of the lineup struggled.
"I think inconsistency is how you describe our last week," said Surrattsville coach Roderick Moore. "It's tough to win in P.G. I think we're inconsistent across the board."
Hornets' senior Raymond Baldwin was held to just nine points and has struggled not only from the field but also from the free throw line in the Hornets' last two losses. Forward Gamari Mayfield got off to a slow start, scoring all eight of his points in the second half.
"Lately, we've been playing as individuals and we've got to turn it around in these last three games and get the momentum back heading into the playoffs," Noble said.
"We have to get back to playing together, it's as simple as that," Hornets' guard Will Johnson said. "I believe we can do it."
Gwynn Park 72, Surrattsville 68
Gwynn Park 19 12 15 26 -- 72
Surrattsville 13 13 15 27 -- 68
Gwynn Park: Brandon Ford 32, Tion Barnes 16, Daniel Henry 9, Brian Hall 4, Marcel Boyd 4, Nick Walton 4, Jarius Hawkins 2.
Surrattsville: Chaz White 17, Alexander Noble 18, Raymond Baldwin 9,Gamari Mayfield 8, Larry McCollum 5,Avery Jasper 2,Juwan Strothers 4
Yellow Jackets have 'best offensive performance of the season' to turn back Lions
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
Raphael Talisman/The Gazette
Gwynn Park's Daniel Henry drives to the basket as Largo's Donald Hunt (center right) and Brandon Bailey (right) trail him in the first half of Tuesday's game at Largo High. Gwynn Park won 79-71.
The Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team expected to win consistently this season. Nearly the entire roster returned from last year, when the Yellow Jackets lost in the Class 2A state title game.
But through the first two months of the season, Gwynn Park has struggled to find its rhythm and put together a solid stretch of games.
Tuesday night, the Yellow Jackets traveled to play County 3A/2A/1A League rival Largo, which has faced its own adversity with two key injuries in the last couple of weeks.
In what Yellow Jackets' coach Mike Glick said was one of his team's most balanced efforts of the season, Gwynn Park jumped out to an early lead on the Lions and closed solidly to win, 79-71.
"We really needed this game," Glick said. "Tonight we had our best offensive performance of the season. We showed patience and moved the ball really well. This was the first good team we beat all season and for our kids, it couldn't have come at a better time."
The Yellow Jackets (10-7) had lost their last two - including a 59-52 setback Monday night against Frederick Douglass - before taking on Largo (11-5).
Glick said the team has struggled with nuances since junior starting point guard Eric Batts was lost during the Christmas break with multiple torn knee tendons.
Yellow Jackets' guard Daniel Henry (21 points) texted Glick on Monday night asking to personally guard Largo point guard Derrick Colter, one of the leading scorers in the county. Glick obliged and the move paid off. Colter scored 15 points, but Henry held him to just two points in the first half, which came on a shot at the buzzer.
"We always start off slow and this was the first game we started out fast," Henry said. "We knew that this season would be tough and that we were going to take a couple of losses. We just have to keep our head up."
Gwynn Park guard Brandon Ford scored a game-high 23 points, helping the Yellow Jackets to a key victory in what has been an up-and-down season.
"Honestly, we lost the heart and soul of this team in Eric Batts," Ford said. "We have struggled to find a rhythm but now we're rebounding. Teams have been overlooking us. We were playing for a county title at first, but now we're just playing for a state championship. We're not losing again this year."
Largo also has had its share of strife over the past few weeks, and Tuesday's defeat gave the Lions back-to-back losses for the first time all season.
Injuries have held the team back. Forward Damante McNeil has missed the past several weeks with a high ankle sprain. The Lions lost guard Chevon Giles for three weeks in Friday's loss to Douglass with a broken right ankle.
"I think we've just hit that rough patch," said Lions' coach Lewis Howard. "November to March is a long time, and our young men have to deal with that. I think we just have to continue to play hard."
"We all have to step up," said Largo forward Donald Hunt, who had 15 points on Tuesday. "We have to get back to practice and play hard. This has been a learning experience."
"We have to come back and practice hard," Colter said. "When we have snow and our games are pushed back, we seem to lose focus. We're not returning mentally ready to play. We need to start winning."
Gwynn Park 79, Largo 71
Gwynn Park 22 13 18 26 -- 79
Largo 12 17 22 20 -- 71
Gwynn Park: Brandon Ford 23, Daniel Henry 21, Brian Hall 15, Tion Barnes 11, Marcel Boyd 1, Nick Walton 4.
Largo: Michael Graham 21, Donald Hunt 15, Derrick Colter 15, Lafayette Nelson 14, Brandon Bailey 2, Tobi Oredin 4.
Yellow Jackets rally in second half, but Eagles earn 59-52 victory
by Sean Smyth | Special to The Gazette
Leah L. Jones/The Gazette
Kavon Glover (left) of Douglass battles for possession of the ball with Gwynn Park's Nick Walton during Monday's game at Douglass High in Upper Marlboro. Glover had a game-high 24 points as the Eagles beat Gwynn Park, 59-52.
It was what you'd expect from any Frederick Douglass-Gwynn Park boys' basketball game - a packed house, tons of intensity and a game that went down to the wire.
Douglass, which led by 17 points midway through the third quarter, warded off a late Gwynn Park rally and earned a 59-52 victory on its home court Monday night in Upper Marlboro. The county rivals meet again in the season finale Feb. 17 at Gwynn Park, and that game should be just as wild as the one they played Monday.
The Yellow Jackets climbed out of their deep hole late, rallying in the second half and cutting the deficit to four in the waning minutes.
"They're a good team, and we knew they were going to come back," Douglass coach Ty Massenburg said. "We did a good job of weathering the storm."
Sweat-soaked Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick lauded his players for rallying from their early struggles.
"We showed a lot of grit, a lot of determination in the way we battled back," Glick said.
Douglass junior forward Kavon Glover led all scorers with a 24-point performance. Senior guard Brandon Ford scored 19 points to lead Gwynn Park.
Glover played the final 5:11 with four fouls, staying tough on defense but keeping his foul situation in mind.
"He played conscious of the four fouls, but he stayed aggressive enough to make a play on defense when he needed to," Massenburg said. "He stayed aggressive on offense, too, and that helped us down the stretch."
In the waning moments, Glover nailed two big shots for Douglass (11-5 overall, 7-5 County 3A/2A/1A League). The first came midway through the fourth quarter, not long after a Ford bucket had brought the Yellow Jackets within five points at 44-39. Glover countered with a sweet fallaway jumper that kept the Douglass fans in the game.
The second came about 90 seconds later, after Gwynn Park (9-7, 8-4 County 3A/2A/1A League) had made it a four-point game. Glover's turnaround jumper in the lane gave the Eagles some much-desired breathing room. Glover was strong in the first half, helping Douglass establish a 13-point halftime lead.
Senior forward Tion Barnes was responsible for all six of Gwynn Park's first-quarter points, keeping the game close for the bulk of the period before the Eagles ended the quarter on an 8-0 run.
Douglass held a 14-6 lead entering the second period, and it expanded that lead to a high of 17 points before a couple of late Gwynn Park hoops made it 26-13 at the break.
The Eagles again expanded their lead in the third quarter, taking a 36-19 advantage after a basket from Teron Elias with 4:08 left in the period. But Gwynn Park scored 11 of the final 16 points in the period, cutting Douglass' lead to 41-30 entering the fourth quarter.
Douglass 59, Gwynn Park 52
Gwynn Park (9-7, 8-4) 6 7 17 22--52
Douglass (11-5, 7-5) 14 12 15 18--59
Gwynn Park: Brandon Ford 19, Tion Barnes 12, Marcel Boyd 6, Brian Hall 4, Nick Walton 4, Daniel Henry 3, Kevin Miles 2, Hershel Grant 2.
Douglass: Kavon Glover 24, Timmone Whatley 14, Marvis Davies 7, Michael Cunningham 5, Jeffrey Calhoun 4, Teron Elias 3, Ryan Phillips 2.
Senior forward scores eight in fourth quarter as Patriots win 11th in a row
by Ken Sain | Staff Writer
Leah L. Jones/The Gazette
Friendly's Sherrod Baltimore (left) and Davon Morton celebrate near the end of Friday's game against Gwynn Park. The Patriots earned a 62-54 victory at Gwynn Park High in Brandywine.
Friendly High School senior forward Davon Morton had a good view of Gwynn Park's third-quarter rally as the Patriots visited the Yellow Jackets on Friday night. He watched from the bench, having picked up his fourth personal foul with 5 minutes, 58 seconds still to play in that quarter and his team leading by three.
When he returned to the game in the fourth quarter the Patriots trailed by a point, but Morton scored eight of his 12 points in the final period to help Friendly win its 11th consecutive game, defeating Gwynn Park 62-54.
"It's so frustrating sitting on that bench, watching my team get down," Morton said. Friendly improved to 12-3 overall and 9-2 in the Prince George's County 3A/2A/1A League.
In the third quarter, Gwynn Park (9-6, 8-3) took its first lead since the first period on a slam by senior forward Tion Barnes with 3:29 to play. The teams exchanged the lead seven times before Morton returned with 6:15 left in the fourth quarter and the Patriots trailing, 43-42.
Morton scored on a steal and layup with 5:11 to go to give his team a 46-45 lead. Friendly never trailed again.
With Morton on the bench, Friendly senior Michael Johnson (18 points) and senior point guard Sherrod Baltimore (13 points) supplied most of the offense.
"This is our 11th straight victory, so we're obviously going to try and win the county first, then go on to state," Johnson said.
Gwynn Park narrowed Friendly's lead to 56-54 with 53.6 seconds to play on two free throws by senior guard Brandon Ford, but Morton scored on a layup, then made two foul shots to keep the Yellow Jackets from rallying.
"At this time of the year, as a coach, you look for those signs," said Friendly coach Rob Garner. "Can we win games, close games, in a hostile environment, on the road? Those are good checking points or assessments to see where we are."
Friendly took the lead in the first half with its transition game, forcing Gwynn Park into eight turnovers that they usually converted into layups or foul shots. The Patriots led 28-24 at halftime.
Barnes led the Yellow Jackets with 20 points and Ford added 13.
"We're not that far away," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "We're one or two plays away it seems in every game."
Friendly 62, Gwynn Park 54
Friendly (12-3, 9-2) 15 13 12 22--62
Gwynn Park (9-6, 8-3) 11 13 17 13--54
Friendly: Michael Johnson 18, Sherrod Baltimore 13, Davon Morton 12, Chris Williams 6, Victor Blakey 4, Jordan Gaither 2, Kim Collins 2, Lamont Short 2.
Gwynn Park: Tion Barnes 20, Brandon Ford 13, Nick Walton 9, Brian Hall 6, Daniel Henry 4, Jarvis Hawkins 2.
Yellow Jackets use 14-4 second-quarter run to take control vs. Falcons
by Jeremy Schneider | Special To The Gazette
Through the first period of the Central High School boys' basketball team's game against Gwynn Park on Tuesday night, the Falcons looked like they were still giant-killers.
Fresh off a 57-54 upset victory against Frederick Douglass last Friday night, Central led Gwynn Park by one after the first quarter and was controlling the game. Though their records said otherwise, the Falcons looked like the better team.
But after those first eight minutes, they fell back to Earth.
"We're still young, and we're still trying to learn how to play the game of basketball," Central coach Lawrence Pugh said. "So at times in the games where we face a little bit of adversity, we have to handle that adversity."
Turnover after turnover as well as foul trouble derailed the Falcons' upset bid as the Yellow Jackets coasted to a 73-57 victory. Gwynn Park, the Class 2A state runner-up last year, improved to 9-5 overall and 8-2 in the County 3A/2A/1A League. Central is 4-8, 3-7.
The shots Gwynn Park missed early in the game finally started falling, and the Yellow Jackets' high-pressure defense put the Central motion offense out of sync. A 14-4 Gwynn Park run to open the second period put the game out of reach.
"I was proud of the way we played in terms of our intensity," Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick said. "I thought the first half, we were a little unintelligent with our fouling. Then we made some adjustments the second half and played a little bit of a cleaner game."
Nearly every time the Falcons attempted to mount a comeback, their defense would send Gwynn Park to the line. On a night when the referees' whistle was nearly as common as the sound of dribbling, Pugh paced up and down the sidelines and complained enough about the officiating to earn a technical foul.
Yellow Jackets' point guard Daniel Henry made his fair share of trips to the charity stripe en route to a game-high 22 points, while Brandon Ford chipped in 19.
"I just wanted to play hard because last game I didn't play too good," Henry said. "We just didn't want to start out slow. But we did. We weren't worried, we were fine. We kept playing and told everybody, keep playing, keep playing, don't worry about it. It had been like that all season and we still came back to win."
Falcons' point guard James Jordan scored 14 and Phil Poteat had 11. But Central had no one else in double figures, and was unable to carry momentum over from its big victory against Douglass last Friday.
"The truth is, the Douglass game we came together as one," Pugh said. "We shared the ball, we passed, we moved. Tonight, we disbanded each other. We didn't play together."
Gwynn Park 73, Central 57
Gwynn Park 15 18 18 22 -- 73
Central 16 10 10 21 -- 57
Gwynn Park (9-5): Daniel Henry 22, Brandon Ford 19, Tion Barnes 12, Brian Hall 8, Jarvis Hawkins 6, Nick Walton 4, Kevin Walters 2.
Central (4-8): James Jordan 14, Phil Poteat 11, Calvin Lovitt 9, Jumar Jennings 7, Damarkus Thomas 7, Darrius Pugh 4, Devonte Perry 2.
Weather postpones Tuesday night games for second week in a row
by Ted Black | Staff Writer
For the second week in a row, winter weather postponed Tuesday evening's slate of high school basketball games, leaving coaches facing the prospect of balancing practices with makeup games over the final six weeks of the regular season.
The Bowie High girls' team was eagerly anticipating a matchup against defending 4A South Region champion Henry A. Wise, which was to have been played Tuesday. Led by Lafayette College (Pa.) recruit Linnel Macklin (22.9 points per game) the Bulldogs have amassed a 10-1 record, including 7-0 in the County 4A League.
Most of Tuesday's games will be made up on Jan. 27, but Bowie already had a makeup date slated for that night against Eleanor Roosevelt. So the Bulldogs will meet Wise the following week at a date and time to be determined.
"You have to know that there are going to be weeks like this one during the winter," said Bowie coach Michael Hines. "As a coach, you know that some weeks you'll have three games and you'll be playing back-to-back nights. When that happens, you lose some practice time but so do [your opponents]. You still have time to work on the things you need to fix and you need to stay healthy when you start playing three games in a week, and fortunately for us, knock on wood, we have."
Forestville's girls' team was scheduled to play host to Potomac on Tuesday, but that game will have to wait for at least two weeks because the Knights (5-3) are already booked for Jan. 27, when they will play a non-league game against Wakefield (Va.). Forestville, the Class 1A South Region runner up last year, has suffered losses to Largo and Gwynn Park, both state title contenders in Class 3A and 2A, respectively. The Knights also have a loss this season against 1A South Region rival Surrattsville. The Knights are led by Zairra Harris (22 points, 12 rebounds per game) and London Richardson (19.9 points, 10.5 rebounds).
"We still need to work on our free throw shooting and our defensive intensity," said Forestville coach Vincent McDuffie. "Right now we know where we stand in the county, so want to be up with Largo, Gwynn Park and Surrattsville. We were hoping to be the top seed in the [1A South] region, but we're just hoping to split with those teams."
Gwynn Park boys' coach Mike Glick said his team will be without guard Eric Batts for the remainder of the season after Batts suffered torn knee ligaments. Playing a rigorous non-league schedule, the Yellow Jackets have gone 6-5 overall, but are 5-2 in the County 3A/2A/1A League.
Glick is confident Gwynn Park can attain its goal of winning another 2A South Region title and returning to the 2A state title game. Brandon Ford (17.5 ppg) and Tion Barnes (12.6 ppg) have carried the scoring load for the Yellow Jackets through the first half of the season and will likely have greater chores in the second run through the league schedule.
"In my 18 years of coaching high school basketball, you have to be ready to make quick changes because you're going to lose games here and there to weather," Glick said, alluding to last winter, when the area had nearly 3 feet of snow in early February that wiped out several game nights. "Last year was probably the worst one since 1997-98, but this year hasn't been that bad. We kind of expected to miss games last Tuesday and this Tuesday, so we pushed them hard in practice on Monday figuring that we wouldn't be back in the gym for a few days. I think the kids are pretty resilient. They won't mind playing back-to-back nights. They probably prefer playing to practicing."
Among the other top contenders in the County 3A/2A/1A League, Largo has rolled through the first half of the season, going 9-2 overall and 7-0 in the league. Coach Lewis Howard's team owns a 92-84 overtime victory against Gwynn Park, and will be in action tonight against Friendly, which is tied for third in the league. The Lions then have a makeup date Feb. 3 against Surrattsville, with whom they are currently tied for the top spot in the league standings.
Largo is led by Chevon Giles (17.8 ppg) and Derrick Colter (17.5 ppg).
"It gets to be a little bit fun," said Howard, whose team will host a non-league game against defending Class 2A state champion City College of Baltimore on Monday. "It's like having an NBA schedule. We'll have a whirlwind schedule. We have eight games in the next 14 days. It's challenging, but you have to work harder. Then you have to go out and perform the best way you can."
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 13, 2011; 4:35 PM
With several top players returning from last season's team that reached the Maryland 2A championship game, Gwynn Park began the season with high expectations. Midway through the season, however, the Yellow Jackets are .500 and struggling to find their identity after losing a key player to injury.
Coach Mike Glick said that when junior shooting guard Eric Batts tore knee ligaments in a holiday tournament game against 13th-ranked Wise, things changed drastically for his team. Two other starters were injured in that game - forward Tion Barnes and guard Daniel Henry - and have since returned, but Batts, who averaged 7.3 points, is out for the season.
"We were down to Wise by two when Batts went down, it changed the whole season," Glick said. "He was out heart and soul, our best defensive guard and hardest worker on our team."
With Batts out, Gwynn Park (5-5, 4-2 Prince George's 3A/2A/1A) has had great difficulty scoring against zone defenses, which nearly every opponent has played. It did not help that the Yellow Jackets had a challenging schedule that also included nonleague games against Virginia AAA defending champion I.C. Norcom, Wise and Riverdale Baptist.
Guard Brandon Ford, a Loyola recruit, has been the only Yellow Jacket to play in every game. He is averaging 17.7 points, while Barnes averages 11.9 points. Those two players will need to carry the load again Friday, when Gwynn Park hosts Fairmont Heights (5-5, 3-3), which features senior forward Lamont Adair (19.6 points per game).
"We're struggling shooting the basketball from outside and everybody has played us zone," Glick said. "We don't have a consistent outside shooter and everybody is shading Brandon. The season is by no means over for us. We just have to get better."
Long-standing debate continues, but WCAC institutes shot clock rule
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
Slowly but surely, the shot clock is making its way into local high school basketball, and the push to make it a universal part of the sport across the nation is gaining strength.
This season, the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference began using a 35-second shot clock for boys' basketball. Girls' basketball games in the private school league use a 30-second shot clock.
"I love it," said DeMatha High coach Mike Jones said. "[The WCAC] is supposed to be one of the best conferences in the country, and if we pride ourselves on preparing players for the next level, having a shot clock in high school certainly helps us in that process."
Eight states currently mandate the use of the shot clock in high school games. It's used for girls' games in Washington and for both boys' and girls' games in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, North Dakota, South Dakota and California. For more than a decade, girls' public school games in Maryland have used a 30-second shot clock.
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the national governing body of high school sports, votes each year on whether to institute the shot clock in every state. NFHS Assistant Director and basketball liaison Mary Struckhoff said more and more high school administrators have opened up to the idea of using a shot clock.
"It's always up for debate," Struckhoff said. "I've been here going on 12 years and it's been discussed every year. I think it's safe to say its gaining momentum."
Jones contends that the shot clock forces players to do more thinking, which helps in player development. He also said the shot clock is helpful because with the clock counting down, players know they have to exert their energy on defense for finite spans of time.
But Prince George's County Schools Director of Athletics Earl Hawkins is an opponent of the shot clock at the high school level.
"I still don't like it, absolutely not," said Hawkins, who played and coached basketball at both the high school and college levels before taking his current post in 2002. "I think the game should be about teaching and giving coaches the ability to use different strategies to win a game. The shot clock favors teams that have big men that can rebound. Teams without big players would be at a disadvantage. I just don't think it's right for that age group."
Hawkins says teams with smaller lineups would be forced to rush possessions to take shots to beat the clock. If their hurried attempts fail, he said, smaller teams would have little chance at grabbing enough rebounds to stay competitive against opponents with bigger lineups.
Gwynn Park High boys' coach Mike Glick used to agree with Hawkins' stance.
"I don't change my opinions on a lot of things, but I definitely think we need to go to a nation-wide shot clock," Glick said. "At every other level they play basketball there's a shot clock. Not using a shot clock is archaic. I think that the style of the game has changed. I think a coach with an inferior team can still find a way to keep itself in the game with a shot clock in use."
It's not uncommon to hear complaints in the stands when a team decides to use stall tactics, holding the ball for long stretches instead of taking a shot and risking a loss of possession. Even Glick, who coached at St. Vincent Pallotti when the Laurel school was in the WCAC in the 1990s, said he tried to stall in a championship game against DeMatha in 1998.
WCAC players don't seem to have much of a problem with the shot clock.
"It's not that big of an adjustment," said Bishop McNamara senior guard Marcus Thornton. "I think it actually helps defensively so teams can't hold the ball for too long."
"The adjustment hasn't been that big of a deal," echoed DeMatha junior guard James Robinson. "We've been practicing with it through the whole offseason. It affects the game differently, but I know for DeMatha we've found the right coaching strategy and formula to succeed with the shot clock."
Forestville High boys' coach Irvin Hay said he doesn't think the skill level among county public schools players is conducive for using a shot clock.
"You have to look at the level of play in your league," Hay said. "When you can recruit and get the athletes you want, it might be OK. But we're trying to develop our kids. Kids think that as soon as you get the ball in your hand, you have to shoot it. A shot clock would put pressure on some of the kids."
But opponents of a shot clock shouldn't fret too much, as there is no definite timeline for implementation, according to Struckhoff.
"It's a touchy situation right now," she said. "Because of the economic climate we're in, it doesn't bode too well for making it a national rule. With schools cutting programs and spending, we would be hard-pressed to require a rule change to require new equipment and personnel and to operate. The states that have it like it. Kids and fans like it because it adds excitement. I think the interest is increasing rather than waning."
Quick start sparks Surrattsville to victory vs. Gwynn Park
Hornets jump out to early 14-4 lead, improve to 6-0 in County 3A/2A/1A League
by Ken Sain | Special to The Gazette
Leah L. Jones/The Gazette
Surratsville's Raymond Baldwin (left) and Alexander Noble (right) surround Gwynn Park's Daniel Henry during Friday's game at Gwynn Park High in Brandywine. Surratsville defeated Gwynn Park, 69-62.
Both the Surrattsville and Gwynn Park high school boys' basketball teams learned something about themselves Friday night as the Hornets notched a 69-62 victory in Brandywine.
Surrattsville learned that it could go on the road and beat a quality team that reached the Class 2A state final a year ago and returned two of the county's players. The Hornets have become a legitimate threat not only to win the Class 1A South Region, but to contend for a state title.
Gwynn Park, however, learned that its struggles offensively may derail any hopes the Yellow Jackets have of returning to the University of Maryland's Comcast Center, site of the state tournament.
The game was played with playoff intensity - complete with four technical fouls - before a full gym.
Surrattsville (9-1 overall, 6-0 County 3A/2A/1A League) jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first quarter as the Yellow Jackets struggled to hit their outside shots. Neither of Gwynn Park's returning Gazette-Star All-County players, shooting guard Brandon Ford and power forward Tion Barnes, scored in the first quarter, which ended with the Hornets leading 14-6.
"Our intention was to start fast against Gwynn Park, because they're a team that brings a lot of energy and have some very athletic players," said Surrattsville coach Roderick Moore."
Gwynn Park (5-5, 4-2) had no luck limiting Surrattsville's top scorer, forward Raymond Baldwin, who had eight points in the first quarter, half of which came on a pair of dunks. Baldwin finished with 22 points.
Surrattsville's Gamari Mayfield kept the momentum going in the second quarter by scoring his team's first six points, allowing the Hornets to open up a 22-9 lead with 4 minutes, 49 seconds left before halftime. Mayfield finished with 14 points, six of them coming off offensive rebounds.
"Our struggles shooting the basketball in the first half really hurt us," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "I thought that we shot too many jump shots, didn't take the basketball to the basket. I was proud how my team responded in the second half, and proud of how they battled back. We have to get better, and we will."
Gwynn Park closed to within 31-26 with 6:21 left in the third quarter, but Surrattsville went on a 10-0 run to take command.
The Yellow Jackets fought back again, getting within six points at 66-60 with 56.5 seconds to play. But Gwynn Park scored only one more basket the rest of the way while Surrattsville was shooting free throws to extend its lead.
Glick said Barnes played his best game of the season, scoring 25 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Ford, however, was limited to seven points and fouled out with 29.2 seconds to play.
"This game was circled on our schedule," Baldwin said. "It's a rivalry, and we wanted to come out and be the better team."
The loss evened Gwynn Park's record to .500, but both coaches said that is deceptive.
"It's not like we're playing the Little Sisters of the Poor," Glick said. The Yellow Jackets other losses came to defending Virginia AAA state champion I.C. Norcom, Largo (in overtime), Henry A. Wise and Riverdale Baptist. "I think we've played the toughest schedule in the county. Our goal is to get back to Comcast."
Surrattsville 69, Gwynn Park 62
Surrattsville (9-1, 6-0) 14 15 22 18 -- 69
Gwynn Park (5-5, 4-2) 6 13 19 24 -- 62
Surrattsville: Raymond Baldwin 22, Gamari Mayfield 14, Chaz White 9, Avery Jasper 8, Alexander Noble 6, Larry McCollum 4, William Johnson 2, Juwan Strothers 2, Bryce Coley 2.
Gwynn Park: Tion Barnes 25, Daniel Henry 10, Brandon Ford 7, Marcel Boyd 6, Jarvis Hawkins 6, Brian Hall 4, Kevin Miles 2, Nick Walton 2.
Crusaders use zone defense to beat Gwynn Park in third-place game at Maryland National Hoops Classic
by Ted Black | Staff Writer
Two hours after losing 83-73 to Bishop O'Connell on Thursday in the consolation game of the Waldorf Holiday Hoops Classic at North Point High School, the Riverdale Baptist boys' basketball team fought through rush hour traffic and fatigue to defeat Gwynn Park, 63-46, in the third-place game of the Maryland National Hoops Classic at Wise High.
Riverdale Baptist (12-5) spent Tuesday and Wednesday splitting the squad between the two tournaments, but on Thursday the Crusaders had a full complement of players for both games. Despite having already played a game and taken an hour-long bus ride, the Crusaders outscored Gwynn Park in each quarter. They raced to a 17-5 lead late in the first quarter, saw the Yellow Jackets get within three points on three different occasions in the second quarter then opened a 29-20 lead at the intermission. Riverdale Baptist held a 12-point lead after three quarters and led by as many as 19 points in the final period.
"We played against a very good O'Connell team and then got on the bus and came here to play," said Riverdale Baptist coach Lou Wilson. "We had all of our guys here, which really helped, and our guards shot the ball well. It was a good experience for these guys. This is one of the best tournaments in the state and it can only help us get better. We'll see O'Connell again next Saturday [Jan. 8] at our place and I know that should be a great game."
For the second night in a row, Gwynn Park (4-4) was held to exactly 46 points and suffered its second consecutive loss. As they did in a semifinal loss to Wise on Wednesday, the Yellow Jackets faced a zone defense that dared their guards to shoot from the perimeter, and the Crusaders were never enticed out of it.
"We probably played the entire tournament without seeing one possession of man-to-man defense," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "So we have to work on our zone offense. We're going to have to hit those outside shots. This whole week will only help us get better. We had the chance to play some good teams and even though we lost the last two games we'll bounce back from it. Everyone is 0-0 when you get to March."
Riverdale Baptist 63, Gwynn Park 46
Gwynn Park 8 10 15 13 -- 46
Riverdale Baptist 17 12 16 18 -- 63
Gwynn Park (4-4): Tion Barnes 5, Eric Batts 2, Brandon Ford 19, Brian Hall 9, Jarvis Hawkins 2, Kevin Miller 4, Nick Walton 5.
Riverdale Baptist (12-5): Norman Allen 3, Quinton Dodson 4, Milan Durant 7, Keon Hill 10, Robel Hurui 2, Olajuwon Lewis 12, Delvin Mulbah 3, Brandon Peel 4, Chris Scott 3, Jerome Tolson 15
In the anticipated nightcap between two county public school teams with aspirations of winning their respective state titles in March, the host Wise boys' team overcame a slow start to edge away from Gwynn Park, 58-46.
Wise (6-1) started slowly, spotting Gwynn Park 6-0 and 10-3 leads before the Pumas closed out the first quarter on an 8-0 run and eventually held the Yellow Jackets scoreless for nearly six minutes before Brandon Ford (16 points) hit a three-point field goal two minutes into the second period to end the drought. Ford was the only member of the Yellow Jackets to reach double-digits on Wednesday.
"I think it might have been nerves, jitters," said Wise coach and athletic director O.J. Johnson. "We just had to collect ourselves early. We had seen them several times during the summer and realized they didn't have our size inside, so we just played a zone and made them shoot and boxed out inside. They have a good team, but tonight they struggled a little bit from the outside."
Wise owned a modest 23-21 lead at the break and the teams were tied on four different occasions midway through the third quarter until the Pumas used a 10-0 run to claim a 43-31 lead and eventually took a 44-35 lead into the fourth quarter. Jonathan Allen (10 points), John Savoy (15 points) and Anfernee Robinson (13 points) each contributed during the run that gave the Pumas a little breathing room heading into the final eight minutes.
"The bottom line was, we just didn't score," said Gwynn Park (4-3) coach Mike Glick. "You can't beat too many teams in the county when you only score 46 points. We just did not shoot the ball well tonight. They played a zone and stayed in it and we didn't shoot well."
After Robinson opened the fourth quarter with a bucket for Wise, Gwynn Park countered with a 7-0 run to get within 46-42 with 4:30 remaining on a three-pointer from Kevin Miles. But the Pumas would limit the Yellow Jackets to only one more field goal during the contest and the hosts widened their advantage by hitting 8 of 13 free throws over the last three minutes.
by Sean Smyth | Special to The Gazette
Rachel Fus/The Gazette
Gwynn Park's Daniel Henry steals the ball during the Yellow Jackets' 69-55 win over Eastern (D.C.) on the first day of the National Hoops Classic at Wise on Tuesday.
Gwynn Park boys' basketball coach Mike Glick always reminds his team to be ready for any contingency, but even he was unprepared for this loop.
The Yellow Jackets, scheduled to play Zebulon B. Vance High School from Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday in the first round of the Maryland National Hoops Classic, instead found out hours before tipoff they would be squaring off against Washington, D.C.'s Eastern High.
The Vance team was stranded in Charlotte by snow. Despite the last-minute switch, Gwynn Park earned a 69-55 victory.
The Yellow Jackets (4-2) face host Wise (5-1) in the semifinals of the tournament at 9 p.m. today. Wise beat Baltimore County's Perry Hall, 66-49, in Tuesday's nightcap.
In the other semifinal, at 7 p.m. today, Archbishop Carroll faces Riverdale Baptist.
"We prepared for three days to play Vance, doing all man-to-man stuff," Glick said. "And Eastern plays zone. The best-laid plans of mice and men ... "
Another change for Gwynn Park: The Yellow Jackets usually have senior forward Tion Barnes in the lineup, but with Barnes sidelined by the flu for much of the week, senior Nick Walton stepped into his place.
Walton scored 16 points, behind only teammate Brandon Ford's 19-point outing, and added nine rebounds.
Walton said he was not nervous about the change.
"Coach prepares us for everything. He always puts us in that type of situation in practice," Walton said. "He said it was my time to shine."
Gwynn Park did not shine much early. Eastern held a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter, and the Ramblers (2-6) were up 32-29 at the half.
The Yellow Jackets took control in the third quarter, scoring 22 of the period's first 24 points. A free throw from Ford 83 seconds into the quarter tied the game at 32, and his 3-pointer with 6:08 remaining put Gwynn Park up for good.
Gwynn Park built up a 16-point lead before Eastern roared back toward the end of the quarter and cut the deficit to just 12. The Yellow Jackets were able to ward off the challenge, leading by as many as 20 points before garbage time.
Barnes, coming off the bench, scored 11 points for Gwynn Park. Senior forward Kevin Miles added 10 points.
Trey Patterson scored 13 points to lead Eastern (2-5), which was playing its first game in 11 days.
Yellow Jackets erase 20-point deficit, but fall to Lions in overtime
by Kaitlyn Carr | Special to The Gazette
Rachel Fus/The Gazette
Largo's Damante McNeil (right) drives to the basket as Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford reaches for the ball during Tuesday's game at Gwynn Park High School.
The Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team overcame a 20-point deficit against the Largo Lions to tie the game on a last minute 3-pointer, but the Lions regained control to capture a 92-84 victory in overtime on Tuesday night in Brandywine.
"Well, it's typical Largo-Gwynn Park rivalry," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "I felt we've had one of the best rivalries in my five years in the county. All the games are like this."
The game didn't begin well for the Yellow Jackets (3-2), as Largo (4-0) went on 13-0 run in the first quarter. Gwynn Park didn't hit a basket until midway through the first period and committed six turnovers during the opening four minutes of the game.
The Yellow Jackets trailed 44-29 at halftime and spent the rest of the game trying to make up for their slow start.
Gwynn Park rallied in the second half, outscoring Largo by 15 points. The Lions began to lose the momentum, committing turnovers in transition that the Yellow Jackets capitalized on. Gwynn Park was able to close the gap to as little as one point, but could never take the lead.
With 34 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Largo scored off an inbound pass, as the Yellow Jackets left Lions' forward Michael Graham open in front of the basket. His layup gave Largo a 73-70 lead.
On the next possession, Gwynn Park's Eric Batts hit a 3-pointer to tie the score at 73-73 with 21 seconds remaining, and the teams headed into overtime.
The Lions came out ready to play in the extra period, scoring 10 points on their first five possessions. Largo saw big production from players who had not scored much during the game in overtime, showing the team's versatility.
Forward Oredin Tobi scored his first basket of the night during overtime, and Chevon Giles scored his first points since the first quarter. Largo Coach Lewis Howard was glad to see contributions coming from an array of players.
"It's a really, really big deal because we told them it is time for you guys to grow up," said Howard. "We're four games in the season, so it was amazing to see because we knew that they could do it. They're not on the team just to be out there, they're on the team because they can perform and they can play. Tonight was a great opportunity for them to step up and show what they can do and they did it in great fashion."
Some of Largo's younger players were forced to take on a bigger role during the Gwynn Park comeback when the Yellow Jackets double teamed Lions' leading scorer Derrick Colter, who matched his season average with 24 points.
"They double teamed Derrick so other players stepped up and made some big plays that helped us a lot," Howard said.
While the Yellow Jackets were able to slow Colter down in the second half, Largo's run to open the game seemed to be too much for Gwynn Park to handle.
"I thought the difference in the game was our start," Glick said. "We got down 20 points in the first quarter. I don't think we were focused in the beginning of the game. The positive is that I thought our kids showed a lot of heart coming back. When you're down 20 points in the first quarter and have a chance to win it at the end, that's great basketball."
Of the two teams, Gwynn Park began the season with more pieces in place from last season and fewer question marks, making it a meaningful win for Largo.
"Gwynn Park has been competitive with us the past few years, and we just wanted to come out, play hard and compete, and we did that tonight," said Howard.
Yellow Jackets use 15-3 run in second quarter to take control vs. Patriots
by Matt Wilson | Special to The Gazette
The Gywnn Park High School boys' basketball team used a 15-3 run at the end of the first half to pull away from Friendly. The Yellow Jackets then dominated the second half and cruised to a 79-44 victory Friday night in Fort Washington.
Senior Brandon Ford led the Yellow Jackets (3-1) with 22 points, while forwards Tion Barnes and Marcel Boyd dominated the paint, creating second-chance points and often holding the Patriots (1-2) to one shot per possession.
"We challenged our kids," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "We thought we had a size advantage and that the key to the game was our man-to-man defense and offensive rebounding, and I thought that was our strength tonight. Holding a team like Friendly to 44 points is outstanding, and I thought we did a tremendous job on the boards in the game to get some put-backs."
After trailing by seven at the end of the first quarter, Friendly opened the second quarter with a 7-1 run, sparked by senior Michael Johnson. That brought the Patriots to within one point, but Gwynn Park decisively took control of the game at that point, answering with their 15-3 run, which gave them a 35-22 lead at halftime.
Over that span, the Patriots turned the ball over three times and missed three free throws. Losing focus during games is a problem that has plagued Friendly in the early part of the season, according to coach Rob Garner.
"The story so far is that we've been playing pretty decent basketball in the first and second quarter," Garner said. "Against Surrattsville we're up and against Gwynn Park we're close, but we can't seem to stay focused enough to win a ballgame. Every possession counts in a tough league like this, and they made all the tough plays and we couldn't."
Gwynn Park used a combination of fast-break baskets and more organized possessions to widen their second-quarter lead. Ford and the Yellow Jackets' offense controlled the pace of the game and scored on seven of eight possessions during their run.
"We wanted to push the ball, but if we didn't have anything we wanted to settle down and run our offense because that's what we need to do," Ford said. "We're a fast-break team, but we also can slow down and run our sets."
The Yellow Jackets were able to extend their large lead in the second half by slowing down the speed of the game and letting their offense work. The guards were able to drive through the lane and get to the free throw line while the big men got rebounds and cleaned up in the paint.
"We are a very versatile team that has a lot of different weapons so our philosophy is to drive the ball to the basket rather than settle for jumpers," Glick said.
Gywnn Park 79, Friendly 44
Gywnn Park 19 16 22 22 - 79
Friendly 12 10 13 9 - 44
Gwynn Park (3-1): Brandon Ford 22, Tion Barnes 11, Eric Batts 9, Marcel Boyd 7, Brian Hall 7, Nick Walton 6, Jarvis Hawkins 6, Daniel Henry 4, Hershel Grant 4, Trevor Ford 3.
Friendly (1-2): Michael Johnson 13, Byron Hawkins 9, Davon Morton 6, Victor Blakely 4, Jordan Gaither 4, Rashaad White 3, Kimberly Collins 2, Raynar Gordon 2, Lamont Short 1.
Gwynn Park is poised to see the MD Big Dance again.
December 6, 2010 - Having lost in last year's Maryland 2A State Final, Mike Glick's Gwynn Park Hornets left the University of Maryland's Comcast Center dejected and down, emotions that are understandable as the coach shared "We haven't won one since '88, and I've been to two state championships in four years". Adding to the school's angst is having "been to nine state Final Fours and seven championship games since '88, losing them all". Gwynn Park has a history that increases its desire to win, as 10 Maryland state titles have been secured by Gwynn Park; it has an expectation of success.
So does Glick in 2010-2011, his fifth Gwynn Park season: "Our number one goal is a state championship. There's really nothing else".
Despite facing a Murder's Row of 2A teams in the Free State, his squad could be built for it, returning four starters, eight veteran varsity and six four year players, leading him to rightly conclude "I've got a very, very experienced team".
Tion Barnes loves to rattle the rims.
That includes 6'3", 190 pound senior shooting guard Brandon Ford, who is headed to Loyola (MD) next year, a player capable of filling up the basket. Senior forward Teon Barnes, standing 6'5" and weighing 210 pounds, is an athletic, rugged forward that fills lanes, defends and causes havoc. Barnes may be headed to Bowie State in 2011.
Marcel Boyd, a player Glick indicated "has only played two years. Is raw...He's a former football athlete that has only played two years of basketball. Boyd is a mid to high major athlete that has good hands", and should turn many heads this season as a 6'9", 230 pound junior big man. JUCO-bound, 6'0", 160 pound point guard Daniel Henry runs the show for Gwynn Park, while junior center 6'11", 270 pound Kevin Walters is a developing big man.
Simply put, GP is loaded this year.
A lineup with size, experience and skill, matched with Glick's coaching drive, could very well propel Gwynn Park past last year's 20-6 and statewide number two finish. To get there the Hornets must traverse a schedule that includes a National High School Hoops Festival matchup with I.C. Norcom (VA), an always challenging Prince George's County 3A/2A slate, along with participation in this year's Maryland Hoops Classic, Christmas-time event. There, Gwynn park is set to battle Vance (NC) in first round action, with a possible tilt with PG 4A power Wise after that.
"We are going to be a defensive oriented team that's bigger than most public schools in the state. We will rely on fast breaks and limiting teams to one shot" said Glick of how he plans on utilizing Gwynn Park, which he dubbed "easily my best team I've been at Gwynn Park".
The buzz around these Hornets are for real.
Tuesday, December 7
Washington Post Preseason Top 20 Rankings
Washington Post 2010-11 Preseason Boys Basketball Rankings
One of county's top basketball players, Ford "ecstatic" about college choice
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
Gwynn Park High School senior Brandon Ford made a verbal commitment on Tuesday to continue his basketball career at Loyola University in Baltimore.
Ford was a 2010 Gazette-Star All-County First Team selection who averaged 19.2 points, four assists and three steals per game as a junior, leading Gwynn Park to a Class 2A state runner-up finish.
"I'm just ecstatic right now," Ford said Tuesday night. "I really can't put it into words. It's one of the best feelings in life right now. I'm just excited and glad and happy."
Ford, who chose Loyola over Howard University, said he thought Loyola was the better option for several reasons.
"Both schools have a lot to offer, but I think Loyola has a more to offer academically," Ford said. "I think also, how I'm going to be living is better. I get to live in an off-campus apartment with other basketball players and I will also get more [scholarship] money with Loyola."
Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick shares Ford's enthusiasm about the choice.
"I couldn't be prouder of Brandon," Glick said. "I think he made a great decision. It's a mix of basketball and academics there. He's got a 3.5 grade point average, he's a full [academic] qualifier, and to be able to go to a great academic school like Loyola says a lot about our county and the public school system."
Ford said he discussed the decision with his family, and his father, Kevin, was happy about the choice.
"I'm glad that got the process over where he can begin the next chapter of his athletic and academic career," Kevin Ford said. "He's a studious kid. We knew that we wanted to go to a school that had a good academic standing. I think the student-teacher ratio will be great and he'll be in a great academic and athletic environment where he can compete at a high level. The Gwynn Park and [AAU club] Team Takeover family did a lot for him."
Ford, who spent his summer with the Team Takeover U-17 squad that reached the AAU national final, said Loyola recruited him through the spring and summer and saw most of the AAU games he played during that span.
He looks forward to his final high school season, when he will be part of a Gwynn Park team that returns much of the talent that brought the Yellow Jackets to within one win of the Class 2A state title last March.
"I cannot wait," Ford said. "I can just focus on winning a state championship. A state championship is our No. 1 goal. Recruiting is over for me. I can bond with my teammates. We came close last year, and we could almost taste a title."
Mikael Hopkins (Dematha) , gave a verbal commitment to Georgetown yesterday and shortly after so did his Team Takeover teammate Brandon Ford (Gwynn Park).
I'm just real excited , it's the happiest day of my life" , noted Ford via phone last night on choosing to commit to Loyola University in Baltimore , Md. The 6'2" combo guard was tabbed Prince George's County First Team last season for his play on the hardwood , but he also boasts a 3.7gpa and noted that he chose Loyola for more than just a future in basketball.
"I chose Loyola because of the help in the long run academically , and for connections that will last a lifetime" , explained Brandon as his Father , Ford Sr. shared similar views on the guard who also had offers from Howard , American and Winthrop. "They just came at him harder , they just showed what kind of support they have for him" shared his "Pops" who was equally excited about his 18 year old son.
Loyola (13-17) last season in the MAAC under Head Coach Jimmy Patsos , who was a former assistant at the University of Maryland for 13 seasons before taking over. "He is Real , I heard he's a crazy coach , but I'm used to playing for crazy coaches , Keith Stevens and Coach Glick are both crazy" , joked Brandon speaking of his AAU Coach and Head Coach Mike Glick of Gwynn Park.
Ford won't be alone in 2011 , Loyola's roster includes All-Met 1st Team Anthony Winbush (TC Williams) , Robert Olsen (Georgetown Prep) , Justin Drummond (Riverdale Baptist) and Dylon Cormier (Cardinal Gibbons) all of whom are already enrolled.
Second-team All-Met guard Brandon Ford of Gwynn Park committed to play for Loyola on Tuesday, Yellow Jackets Coach Mike Glick said.
Ford chose the Greyhounds over Howawrd.
"I think that he liked the level of play and the strength of the [Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference] and he felt comfortable with the campus and the environment," Glick said. "Academically, he's a 3.5 student, so that was a really good fit for him. And he really clicked with their players."
Ford, who is 6 feet 3, averaged 19.2 points and 3.5 assists last season while leading Gwynn Park to the Maryland 2A final.
Talent-laden Team Takeover enjoys successful summer
Team Takeover features top players from across county
by Joshua Hudson | Staff Writer
Gwynn Park High School's Brandon Ford goes up for a shot during a game last season. Ford played on Team Takeover this summer, which won the Peach Jam Title in North Augusta, S.C.
Team Takeover features some of the best high school basketball players from Prince George's County and elsewhere in Maryland and Virginia. So it's no surprise that a team full of stars won the The Peach Jam Title in North Augusta, S.C., last month.
What was surprising was how easy Team Takeover made it look against some of the best competition in the country.
Team Takeover went 8-0 in the tournament and beat their opponents by an average of 13 points per game. Coach Keith Stevens said the goal was to hold every opponent to less than 35 percent shooting, which was exactly what happened.
"Last year we felt we should have won the title, but we lost in the quarterfinals," Stevens said. "These guys just finished what they started last year. The thing that really helped us out was team chemistry and focus."
The team features four players from Prince George's County: DeMatha High School's James Robinson and Mikael Hopkins, Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford and Bishop McNamara's Ibn Muhammad.
Robinson is one of the youngest players on the team and started at point guard. The rising junior scored 24 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the championship game against the St. Louis Eagles, which featured University of Florida recruit Bradley Beal.
Robinson said it's easy playing point guard for Team Takeover since everyone on the team can score.
"All you have to do is get the ball near them and everyone can take it from there," Robinson said. "There were no slouches in this tournament because even the teams that struggled were elite. It was great meeting a lot of the top talent from across the country. You really get a chance to bond with the players and become a family."
Ford came off the bench for Team Takeover in the tournament and guarded some of the best players in the country throughout the summer, including Beal, University of Kentucky recruit Marquis Teage and Florida recruit Austin Rivers. The rising senior, who averaged 19.2 points per game for Gwynn Park last season, said it took some time getting used to coming off the bench, but he realized it was best for the team.
"You check your ego at the door because everyone on this team is the man for their high school team," Ford said. "I had a fun time this summer and this helped me stay humble and focused. How many players can say they went against the same people I did during the summer? That was my last tournament with this team and that's how I wanted to end it."
Ford, Hopkins and Muhammad all enter their senior seasons and have played their last game for Team Takeover. Hopkins, a 6-foot-8 forward, averaged 14.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 4.2 blocks per game for DeMatha last season. Muhammad, a 5-foot-9 guard, averaged 6.9 points per game for McNamara last year. Robinson has one more year returning and said he will be back.
"I am going to miss those guys and have great memories playing with them," said Robinson, a 6-foot-3 guard who averaged 5.8 points per game last season. "I now have the experience and next year I am going help lead this team and hope we can reach our goals."
The flashbacks don't come as frequently as they used to, not since my twin boys became teenagers, shot up a few inches and started sounding like men. But the memories still rush back at the oddest times, such as the evening last fall when I was sitting in the stands at one of their football games. It was a home game on one of the nicest artificial turf fields in Howard County. Our team, the Columbia Ravens, had already scored. Now, the spectators were on their feet again.
"Get him! Get him," they yelled.
I had been looking down at my BlackBerry, but hearing the excitement, I glanced up in time to see the football sail through the air and into the hands of an opposing player. He was wide open, about to make a run for the end zone. Then, out of what seemed like nowhere, one of our players broke free from the crowded line of scrimmage and sprinted to the ball carrier, tackling him to the ground.
I blinked and adjusted my eyeglasses. "Did I just see what I thought I saw?" I whispered to my husband, who was sitting next to me. "Was that Cameron?"
"Yep," he said, staring at the field. He was thinking what I was thinking. Our son Cameron, who was so small at birth that he could fit into the palms of our hands, had just taken down a pretty good player.
I watched as Cameron popped off the downed player and strutted to his teammates, his slight but muscled body disappearing into the jumbled huddle. My mind flashed back to the neonatal intensive care unit and the doctors and nurses hovering over him.
"He's a fighter," I remember a doctor saying to me. "But he's very small. The first 24 hours will tell how he'll do. ..."
***
I'm sometimes surprised -- even shocked -- when Cameron and his brother, Matthew, now 14, shine on the gridiron, in the classroom or in other ordinary achievements. It's not that I have low expectations of my children, but I can never forget their precarious start in life. When they were born nearly 11 weeks before their due date in 1996, my husband, Benjamin Lumpkin, and I weren't even sure our boys would make it, let alone be able to play sports, take up the violin or sing in their school chorus. For the parents of a preemie -- a baby born before 37 weeks gestation -- the experience can range from awful (the baby's death) to blessed (survival with few, if any, lasting medical issues).
These days, more women are giving birth to preemies, partly because of the increased use of fertility drugs, which tend to result in multiple births. Many of these babies spend their first days in the neonatal intensive care unit -- the NICU, also the name and focus of a new television series that debuted last month on the Discovery Health Channel.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, preterm birth rates rose by more than one-third from the early 1980s until 2006, when they hit 12.8 percent. In 2008, 12.3 percent of babies were born premature. The medical costs are staggering, more than $26 billion in 2005, according to a report by the March of Dimes, a leader in the effort to improve the health of babies. Because of advances in science and medicine, the chances of survival for preemies, even those born before 24 weeks, are better than ever, says Alan Fleischman, medical director for the March of Dimes. But many of these children suffer developmental and medical problems that can be temporary or life-long.
This is the preemie prism through which I've viewed my boys' accomplishments. When I cheer at their football games, I do so not just because they make a key tackle but because, against scary odds, they can walk and run. When I applaud at their school concerts, I do it not just because they perform beautifully, but because Cameron and Matthew are up there with the rest of the kids. And this month, when my sons go off to high school, I'm sure I will shed a few tears, not just because I'm proud they've reached this milestone, but because 14 years ago, I feared this time might not come.
It was Jan. 11, four days into what became known as the Blizzard of 1996, and I was undergoing a sonogram. The warmth of my obstetrician's Rockville office was a stark contrast to the low temperatures and snow outside. As the doctor spread cold gel over my abdomen, I briefly turned away from the machine. "Please, Lord," I whispered, "let this pregnancy be the real thing."
After a few minutes, my doctor blurted: "Mrs. Lumpkin, do you have twins in your family?" I thought about my cousins, Anthony and Shauna, now in their late 20s. "Yes," I answered. "Why?" I lifted my upper body and turned to look at the machine. The nurse was smiling.
"From what I'm seeing here, it looks like you've got a set of twins," the doctor said.
Feeling a sudden mix of giddiness and shock, I fell back on the table. Several months earlier, an ectopic pregnancy had damaged one of my fallopian tubes, prompting my Greenbelt doctor to refer my husband and me to a Rockville practice that specialized in treating infertility. In late fall 1995, we visited the practice and learned about the options available, including oral drugs, hormone injections, in-vitro fertilization and intrauterine insemination -- all more than I wanted to try and more than we could afford. The doctor suggested we return in January to discuss the next step, but before our next appointment, I began experiencing abdominal cramping and bleeding, prompting my visit to the doctor. Now, I was seeing two fuzzy images on the sonogram machine.
At first, my pregnancy seemed like a dream, except for occasional morning sickness. Then, into my second trimester, my doctors noticed that one of the twins, Baby A, was not growing at the rate of Baby B. I was referred to a perinatologist at Georgetown University Hospital, who began tracking the babies' sizes and urged me to take it easy. He was concerned about Baby A -- "the runt," he called him. If the size discrepancy continued, he might have to put me on bed rest. I followed his orders.
Then a 35-year-old reporter for Knight Ridder newspapers, I was covering a news conference in Washington on June 12 when I felt a subtle pop in my lower abdomen and a seep of warm liquid. I eased out of the room, made my way home to Bowie and called my obstetrician. Get to the hospital right away, he told me. By the time my husband's car pulled up to Shady Grove Adventist, I was sitting in a puddle of amniotic fluid. I was whisked up to the labor and delivery floor, where my doctors and nurses were waiting. My mother and sister were on their way. So were the twins, at just 28 weeks of gestation.
***
My doctors immediately began trying to suppress the contractions by giving me intravenous doses of magnesium sulfate and shots of Terbutaline, an asthma medication also used to stop preterm labor. As I lay there, my obstetrician, Jonathan Elias, stood next to my bed and gave Ben and me The Speech. "We don't want to alarm you, but this is serious," Elias began. I trusted him, but I was scared.
He said he was fairly certain the twins could survive. But even under the best circumstances, the medical team wasn't sure what issues the infants might face once they were born: possible breathing, vision or hearing problems; or bleeding in the brain, which occurs in the early days of some preterm babies, especially those weighing less than 3 pounds at birth. That dangerous condition could lead to neurological problems and interfere with motor coordination. The smaller the baby, the higher the risk of brain bleeds, he said. The risks were even greater for multiples, because the babies tend to be smaller. The severity of my situation hit me, and I began to sob. Ben stood silently next to my bed and rubbed my shoulder.
That night when he left, I lay awake, wondering what would become of my babies. What if they suffered brain damage? Or, God forbid, did not survive? A calm person by nature, I tried to assure myself: Whatever God gave me, I would happily take.
My doctor put me on strict bed rest. I couldn't get up even to shower or use the toilet. The anti-contraction medicines made me tired and queasy, but I read and watched the Summer Olympics on television. After a few days, my doctors allowed me to get out of bed sparingly. But early on the fourth morning, I was walking gingerly to the bathroom in my room when a sudden pain, like monster menstrual cramps, hit me. I tiptoed back to bed and called the nurse. I learned later from my medical records that I was already seven centimeters dilated, one of the babies was in a breech position, and his feet were passing through my cervix.
To decrease the risk of complications, my doctor ordered an emergency Caesarean section, and I called my husband, who was sleeping at home. The commotion around me seemed surreal. Hospital workers wheeled me into the operating room, and the anesthesiologist began administering numbing medicine. All I could think of was The Speech.
Ben had yet to arrive, but the babies had to come out, the doctors said. My entire body trembled. Sensing my fear, the anesthesiologist wrapped his arms around my shoulders from behind. "It's going to be okay," he said.
"Please stay with me," I whispered.
Every face I turned to in the operating room looked worried. In my medically induced haze, I could feel the doctors tugging at my belly and then ... "Mrs. Lumpkin, here's Baby A," I heard a voice say as someone held the tiny newborn to my face. This was not the cute, chubby baby I had imagined. At 2 pounds, 5 ounces, he resembled a scrawny bird.
It was 3:16 a.m. A minute later, the voice announced: "Mrs. Lumpkin, here's Baby B." He was plumper at 3 pounds, 5 ounces. Both boys were limp, wrinkly and covered with fine black hair, known as lanugo, which all fetuses develop but shed at around 33 weeks of gestation. I waited for them to cry but didn't hear a sound before they were whisked to the NICU.
Through the commotion, I heard someone mention the babies' shared placenta, suggesting that the boys were probably identical twins. The perinatologist was concerned they may have suffered twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome in utero, a dangerous condition in which blood supply between multiple fetuses (usually identical twins) is disproportionate.
I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up, Ben was standing beside me with pictures the NICU staff had taken of our tiny boys. My doctor came in with an update: The babies were breathing on their own -- a very good sign. But their trajectory would depend on how they fared in the early days. Again, I started to cry. I had just given birth to my children, and I couldn't even hold them. I looked up at Ben, who was trying not to look worried.
"Happy Father's Day," I said.
***
The sounds struck me first -- the constant beeps and alarms signaling that a baby had stopped breathing, and the whooshing of machines pumping oxygen into tiny bodies. The space was a maze of isolettes: small, clear, box-shaped cribs, where sick babies lay until they were healthy enough to leave.
Despite their low birth weights, tests showed my boys had no brain bleeds or other significant problems. But they sometimes forgot to breathe and had been hooked to the beeping, swooshing machines. The alarm would alert the medical staff to touch or rock them gently to stimulate their breathing. Both boys also were exhibiting heart rate problems and, because they had not yet developed the sucking reflex, they had to be fed through a tube that snaked through their noses to their stomachs.
I walked slowly toward the boys. We'd named Baby A -- the one the doctor had called the "runt" -- Cameron; Baby B was Matthew. They were lying on their backs in only diapers, which swallowed them. They were not well enough for me to hold. And so, I just stood there, staring at their tiny bodies. My heart filled with agonizing guilt: How did this happen? What did I do to cause it?
Three days after the boys were born, I was discharged, but I felt only sadness, leaving without them. The NICU nurses urged me to allow myself to begin healing before returning to the hospital. Two days later, though, I was back, studying the staff's every move, preparing to take over caring for the boys. I taped a wedding photo of Ben and me on each of their isolettes. Eight days passed before I could feed Matthew with a bottle -- a combination of breast milk and formula to increase the calories -- and a few days more for Cameron. Nearly a month after their birth, I started breastfeeding them. I celebrated when they gained an ounce and stressed when they lost one.
Some days, I forgot to eat. Chores piled up at home, and the postman stopped delivering our mail because the box was too full. One month, I forgot to pay the mortgage. I wanted my babies home, and the guilt lingered. The boys were progressing slowly, but both had trouble keeping down their milk, which interfered with their weight gain.
As excited as I was to get to the hospital each day, I felt lonely and depressed until one day a new mom named Sally Glick approached and told me that she also had tacked a photo of herself and her husband on her son's isolette. Her son Robert, born prematurely because of her preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced hypertension) weighed 3 pounds, 9 ounces. Though he was born bigger and later than my boys, Robert had suffered more problems, including a brain bleed, apnea and a hole in his heart, which eventually closed with medication. He also needed oxygen therapy to help his lungs mature.
Sally and I began to schedule our visits to the hospital around the same time. We spent hours rocking, feeding and reading to our babies. Neither of us could imagine then that our preemie journeys were just beginning.
***
Matthew came home first, on July 16, exactly a month to the day after he was born. He weighed a little over four pounds. With Cameron still in the NICU, the staff knew Ben and I were in no mood to celebrate. There were no flowers or balloons, just long hugs and tearful goodbyes. As I walked out of the hospital, I looked over my shoulder in the direction of the NICU and whispered: "'Bye, Cameron. We'll be back tomorrow."
After two months in the NICU, Cameron finally made it to four pounds and joined us at home. For the first time, I felt like a "real" mother, flitting around the house, caring for my boys. Ben and I charted each feeding, noting how much the boys drank and when.
And there were still medical issues. Before his first birthday, Cameron landed in the hospital several times, including once for surgery at Georgetown Hospital to correct a birth defect in which his urinary opening was abnormally located.
Matthew fared better, except for a worrisome heart murmur, and like his brother, a tendency to throw up almost everything he ate.
The boys held their heads up, crawled and walked later than many babies their age. Cameron almost always followed Matthew developmentally by at least a couple of months. At the pediatrician's office, I stressed out when I saw other 2-year-olds talking in sentences; my boys were just beginning to string together words. My boys were smaller and slower because they were preemies, I explained to other parents. When the boys entered preschool at age 3, I made sure to tell the teachers about their history. If they didn't seem to be measuring up to the other kids in class, I reasoned that it was because they were preemies. If they caught a bad cold or vomited their meals, I blamed it on their prematurity. If they tried to force the square peg into a round hole or had trouble staying in the lines when they colored simple shapes, I explained that they did it because they were premature. Even when they excelled, I attributed it to their fight to overcome their prematurity.
One day, their preschool teacher pulled me aside and told me that Cameron was struggling to hold his crayons and other small objects, and when he did, he seemed to tire before he could even complete his pictures. Matthew was doing better, but even he was on the lower end of the "normal" range, she said. The pediatrician told us Cameron was exhibiting signs of fine motor problems, almost certainly a result of his premature birth. We were referred to Children's National Medical Center in Washington, where Cameron was assigned an occupational therapist. Three times a week for three years, I slipped out of work to take Cameron to therapy, lots of gripping small objects, shoe-tying, zipping and unzipping and playing the piano, all designed to strengthen his hands and fingers.
With the therapist's guidance, I bought jewelry-making kits that required Cameron to slip tiny beads through strings, and spongy balls that forced him to squeeze and release his hands. In time, his coloring improved. So did his sketching. He started to draw simple pictures and then more detailed ones without tiring. Soon, I was buying drawing tablets and colored pencils and paints. My father gave Cameron an old wooden easel, which he used one day to draw me a bowl of fruit. Later, in elementary school, his art would be chosen for display at a law office and at the local mall in Columbia, the community where we now live.
I was so happy with Cameron's progress that I replicated my approach with Matthew. My mommy instinct told me that the more I worked with the boys and exposed them to books, music, toys and sports, the more I could help deflect, or at least minimize, any developmental issues. Soon, both were reading and writing legibly, and it was becoming more difficult to notice delays in Cameron. In fifth grade, after completing a book report on Frederick Douglass, Matthew one day declared he wanted to play the violin. I rushed to buy one.
"That was the first time I heard of a black man playing the violin," he would tell me later. "I thought if he could play it, so can I."
For the first time, I was allowing myself to think that maybe the boys were growing out of the preemie factor. Some medical issues lingered, but they paled, compared with what Sally was going through. She had brought her firstborn home not knowing that his prematurity would manifest itself in eating problems, low muscle tone, and even tics and speech issues. Robert, who also will enter high school this month, is slow to process information and struggles with tasks that require him to use his fine and large motor skills. Because of his speech delays, it is difficult to understand him when he talks.
One recent afternoon, Sally and I sit in my family room and reminisce. Both of us recall hearing in the NICU that, according to long-held statistics, black girls generally fare the best of all premature infants, followed by white girls, black boys, and then white boys.
"Do you think your boys did better than Robert because of this?" Sally, who is white, asks about my boys, who are African American.
"I don't know," I say.
I tell her about my conversation with March of Dimes medical director Fleischman, who says that preemies have their own trajectories and can suffer a host of complications. "What we don't know is what protects some from these insults and not others," he says.
For Robert, high school will be an extension of middle school, says Sally, and college will likely be community college -- maybe. "I'm sorry," she says, now crying. "Robert is a good, kind kid. I just hope that as he gets older and goes out on his own, people will see in him what we see in him."
***
One Saturday afternoon, the boys are working on a science project, building a 3-D model of an atom using Model Magic clay, barbecue skewers and Styrofoam. Each has sculpted an impressive atom of protons, neutrons and electrons. But Cameron's clay protons and neutrons keep popping off. My mind flashes back to the days when I hoarded Play-Doh for him to play with so he could strengthen his fingers and hands. With the boys out of earshot, I whisper to Ben that maybe Cameron's clay balls are not sticking because he lacks the strength in his fingers to secure them. Ben throws me a look as if I am crazy.
I think back to a conversation with a neighbor a few years ago. We were chatting about our kids when I brought up Cameron's schoolwork and my fear that his prematurity might again be stunting his progress. By then, the boys were in the fourth or fifth grade.
"Tracey!" my friend said, practically yelling at me. "They're not preemies anymore!"
"What?" I replied.
"They're not preemies anymore!" she repeated. "They're fine now. You have to stop blaming everything on their premature birth."
I felt as though someone had finally knocked some sense into me.
"In mothers' eyes, preemie babies will always be preemie babies," Fleisch-man later told me. "But it is true that at some point, many of these children outgrow their deficits and no longer act like preemies and so should not be treated like preemies."
I've come to realize that for me, the preemie journey represented a safe place -- a place where for good or bad, I had a built-in explanation if my boys weren't thriving. These days, though, if the boys fail to complete a school assignment, earn a poor grade or neglect to turn in their homework, I'm more likely to chalk it up to teenage wishy-washiness or laziness. And I no longer feel obligated to let everyone new in their lives know they were preemies.
As I look ahead to high school and beyond, I'm beginning to see my boys through a new pair of lenses. And I love what I see: no longer the fragile preemies they were, but the vibrant young men they are becoming.
Tracey A. Reeves, a former reporter and editor for The Washington Post, is director of news and information at Johns Hopkins University. She can be reached at wpmagazine@washpost.com.
Day full of basketball ends with Yellow Jackets winning summer league game vs. Largo
by Joshua Hudson | Staff Writer
It was a long Monday for the Gwynn Park High School varsity basketball team.
The day started with a 6:45 a.m. meeting at the high school prior to the start of the Gwynn Park Basketball Camp, where the Yellow Jackets' players served as instructors. The camp started at 8 a.m. and didn't finish until 4 p.m. The players and coaches rushed from the camp to Riverdale Baptist High School for their Falconers League game at 6 p.m. against Largo.
Some of the players and coaches were late for the game, and when they arrived they still had their nametags on from the first day of camp. But the Yellow Jackets settled down and defeated Largo, 49-42, to remain undefeated in the summer league.
Senior guard Daniel Henry said his day started at 5:45 a.m. since he had a 25-minute drive from his home in Accokeek to Gwynn Park High in Brandywine.
"I just downed a couple of Gatorades because I knew we had to come out here and play," he said after the game against Largo. "I am going straight to bed when I get home. I got to get ready to do it all again tomorrow because we got to get ready for Laurel."
The Yellow Jackets will have another long day ahead of them Tuesday, as they will help teach at the camp at 8 a.m. and will come back to Riverdale Baptist to play against Laurel at 6 p.m.
Varsity assistant coach Jarrett Thompson, who is coaching the Gwynn Park summer team, said the long day shows the dedication the players have for the program and the game of basketball.
"These guys are playing mostly off adrenaline right now because I know they are tired," said Thompson, who still had his camp nametag on his shirt after the game. "They are committed to winning and being the best. I am sure it helped a little bit that we played Largo today."
Monday night's game featured two of the three remaining undefeated teams in the Falconer's League as Gwynn Park entered with a 5-0 record, while Largo was 4-0. Riverdale Baptist, who has won the league title four consecutive years, is the other undefeated team with a 4-0 record.
The game featured the type of intensity that is normally on display in the County 3A/2A/1A League game in February. But Gwynn Park was able to wear down a shorthanded Largo team that played the game with only five players. Three of those players were varsity starters Brandon Bailey, Derrick Colter and Will Johnson.
But Thompson said it didn't matter who Gwynn Park was playing. He said the Yellow Jackets are trying to beat everyone and win everything, including the championship of the Falconers League.
"We are very competitive and take every game serious," Thompson said. "These guys have been through so much that they want to win everything. We are committed to getting back to states and winning a state championship."
After falling in Class 2A state title game last season, talented Yellow Jackets get back to work
by Joshua Hudson | Staff Writer
Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford (right) shoots a 3-pointer in a Falconers League game against Charles H. Flowers on Tuesday night at Riverdale Baptist High School in Upper Marlboro.
Gwynn Park High School guard Brandon Ford has had a tough time forgetting how last season came to an end for the Yellow Jackets.
Gwynn Park's basketball team advanced to the Class 2A state title game against Baltimore's City College, but the Yellow Jackets lost 56-45, as City College captured its second consecutive state title.
Ford even gets reminded of it during the summer AAU season when he plays against players from City College.
"They all wear back-to-back championship shirts every time I see them," he said. "I still haven't gotten over that game."
The Yellow Jackets have begun the process of getting back to the state title game as they play this summer in the Falconers League at Riverdale Baptist High School. They looked in midseason form on Tuesday night as they took apart Charles H. Flowers, 55-25.
Gwynn Park returns its top two players in seniors Ford and forward Tion Barnes. It loses Mike Hemsley, who scored 22 points in the state title game. But the Yellow Jackets have one of the deepest programs in the County 3A/2A/1A League and have several players ready to step into leading roles.
Varsity assistant coach Jarrett Thompson, who is coaching the summer league team, said Gwynn Park is full of players that are ready to have their moment.
"We have guys that have been in this program for years and now they are going to get their opportunity," Thompson said. "This is their year and they are hungry. They want to get back to the state title game and that's all that we have been talking about. The sky is the limit for us."
One of those players who is ready to make an impact is forward Marcel Boyd. The 6-foot-8 junior has spent time in the offseason working on his offensive game. Tuesday night, Boyd looked comfortable in the paint and even ran the fast break a few times. He scored six points in against Flowers and controlled the paint on offense and on defense.
Boyd said he doesn't feel any pressure needing to step into Hemsley's role in the offense and defense.
"We have a lot of good players on the team this year," Boyd said. "We are good from the top player all the way to the ninth-best player. Everyone can be a starter on this team."
But the toughest thing the Yellow Jackets could face in the months leading up to the start of the season is the attention from other teams and fans of basketball in Prince George's County. Ford, Boyd and Thompson all said the key to success for Gwynn Park is working hard and staying humble.
It's something that Ford said the team should be able to handle.
"The biggest things for us is staying disciplined and staying humble," he said. "We are pretty good but at the same time we aren't going to let that make us cocky. We need to keep working hard and if we can do that, hopefully we can make another state title run."
Gwynn Park devises plan for 2A title game, but cold shooting proves costly vs. City College
by Thomas Floyd | Special to The Gazette
Raphael Talisman/The Gazette-Star
Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick (left) gives instruction to junior forward Daniel Henry during Friday's state semifinal game against North Carroll.
As Tion Barnes returned to the Comcast Center court, his head hanging and his steps begrudgingly slow, his body language put the sting of Gwynn Park High School's state final defeat on full display.
A 6-foot-5 junior forward, Barnes, along with Gwynn Park teammates Curtis Hardy and Mike Hemsley, attempted to make a quick exit to the locker room of the University of Maryland, College Park's arena. But coach Mike Glick tracked his players down and brought them back out to the floor so they could accept their Class 2A runner-up plaques and watch Baltimore's City College walk away with the big prize.
After taking a seat on the bench, Barnes hid his dismay from the 56-45 loss by pulling his No. 23 jersey over his head. Led by 19 points from Nick Faust and 10 from center Jordan Latham, City College celebrated at center court and coach Mike Daniel collected his second consecutive state championship trophy.
It was the end of a whirlwind 24 hours for Gwynn Park, which won its state semifinal Friday night, then watched City College win its own semifinal before trying to devise a strategy for stopping the eventual two-time state champions.
Friday, 9:01 p.m.
Just 26 minutes have passed since Gwynn Park's 69-37 thrashing of North Carroll in the state semifinal, but Glick is already looking ahead to tomorrow's title game as he takes a seat at the Comcast Center to watch the second semifinal between City College and Easton.
Viewing a game with the seemingly endless resource of local basketball history, statistics and strategy that is Glick is like having a personal color commentator at your side. The fourth-year coach will answer all the questions you have on the sport – and even some you don't have – without hesitation.
City College jumps out to a 13-4 lead, and Glick starts talking about the Knights' coach, Daniel. The two had many past battles while Glick was at Archbishop Spalding and Daniel led Towson Catholic. Although Glick had Villanova commit Derek Snow on his side, Daniel countered with future Syracuse and Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony.
"We played some epic games, and we were blessed by the players we had," Glick recalls. "We're now both able to play a disciplined style of basketball in a public school environment."
In regard to the more pressing concern of Daniel's current crop of weapons, Glick immediately singles out Faust, the Knights' leading scorer, and the Xavier University-bound center, Latham. In order to win against City College, he says the Yellow Jackets will have to stop those two and make someone else beat them.
"That's next-level stuff right there," Glick says as Latham catches a pass, pulls up and knocks down a mid-range jumper in one smooth motion. "That's why he going to play for one of the top 20 teams in the country."
With the Knights enjoying a 30-10 lead at halftime, Glick tells his players to head home and get a good night's sleep. Now knowing for sure which team Gwynn Park is up against, Glick explains his squad's offensive tactics for the championship game.
"If it's an up-and-down game, we lose," he says. "A game in the 70s or 80s, we lose. If we shorten the game and we get good shots and we get them flustered, we're going to win the game. On offense, we're going to be patient."
Saturday, 6:12 p.m.
Two minutes into the 2A state championship game, Gwynn Park leads City College 6-4. Following more than 30 seconds of the Yellow Jackets patiently swinging chest passes around the perimeter, Ford dribbles around a screen and hits a three-pointer.
Faust promptly tries to respond with a 3-pointer, but Hardy contests the effort, and it finds nothing but air. Soon after, Latham gets the ball in the paint and an immediate double team from Barnes and Hemsley forces a turnover.
By the end of the first half, Glick's plan to keep the game low-scoring and shut down City College's daunting one-two punch of Faust (4 points) and Latham (2 points) is working. But an unexpected 19-point outburst from the Knights' role players has given them a 25-20 halftime lead over the Yellow Jackets.
Saturday, 1:36 p.m.
In a Gwynn Park classroom, one needs to look no further than the bulletin board labeled "SAT Information" to identify the room as Glick's. Instead of news of about the standardized test, the panel is covered, from corner to corner, with basketball newspaper clippings.
On the opposite wall, a quote is scribbled on the blackboard: "If you get a job you really love, you will never work a day in your life." Attributed to Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wootten, who led the DeMatha's boys' basketball program from 1956 to 2002, the words of wisdom seem particularly fitting as Glick spends his Saturday afternoon intently breaking down film of City College.
Staring at footage of his opponent's 59-52 loss to Ballou High (D.C.) in January, Glick sees Faust drill a 3-pointer before immediately telling assistant coaches Zach Sarver and Spencer Way his strategy for limiting the sharp-shooting junior.
"We're going to start the game with a box-and-one defense on number five," Glick explains. "We're not going to allow that kid to get into a rhythm. We have to take him out of the game from the very beginning."
The players, meanwhile, are taking part in a pregame shoot-around on their home court. At one end, Hardy, Hemsley and guard Brian Blue are in a 3-point competition. As Blue fires from the baseline, Hemsley lets out a distracting scream that throws the senior guard off and causes the shot to go awry. Minutes later, the two are still good-naturedly exchanging accusations of cheating.
"We're relaxed," says junior guard Brandon Ford, the Yellow Jackets' leading scorer this season. "We've been in this situation before and played in big games like this. It's just another game."
In stark contrast to the bright lights, slick hardwood and polished confines of the 17,950-seat Comcast Center, the dusty old gym at Gwynn Park is characterized by its aged floor and worn-down, wooden bleachers. Looming over the players is the past they are so desperately trying to live up to: 10 state championship banners won between 1968 and 1988.
"We think about that on a daily basis, and one of the things that attracted me to the job was the tradition of the school," says Glick, for whom the state final will be his 100th game with the Yellow Jackets.
Glick introduces his scouting report to the players by feverishly stating, "The number one thing you guys have to start doing right now, if you want to win, is you have to listen."
After breaking down City College's 2-3 zone and 2-2-1 press defenses and instructing Hardy to make Faust take bad shots under pressure, Glick moves on to the plan for dealing with Latham and his 6-foot-8 frame.
"He is trying to catch the ball, dribble to his right and he has a nice little jump hook," Glick says. "He will be the difference maker if you let him. Our game plan is to double him the second he gets the ball and to not let him get comfortable."
Saturday, 7:37 p.m.
Early in the fourth quarter, Faust takes another 3-pointer with Hardy in his face. This time, Faust drains the shot while falling out of bounds. On City College's next possession, Latham splits a double team and converts a layup plus the foul to make the lead 44-35. Following slow first halves, Faust and Latham have finally found rhythms.
Gwynn Park abandons its deliberate offensive approach in favor of a more up-tempo style, however, and claws back to within five with 2:45 remaining. But Hemsley, who leads the Yellow Jackets with 22 points, fouls out. With a chance to cut the lead, Hardy misses a pair of free throws, and back-to-back baskets from Latham and Faust push the City College lead to 11 points.
At the other end, Ford throws up a desperation 3-pointer that goes long. Blue's put-back attempt clanks off the iron and Latham snares the board in the final minute, ending Gwynn Park's hopes.
The night before, Glick said if the Knights wanted to beat the Yellow Jackets, they would have to limit Ford. Sure enough, the City College defense focused on the junior, and Ford only shot 3 for 13 from the field.
"It was hard to get shots off," Ford says at the postgame press conference. "They just shaded everything towards me. They made it tough for me to play."
Glick is quick to point out nothing is tougher than being on the losing end of a title game. In the end, though, Glick is pleased with his players' effort and the coaching staff's game plan, taking solace in feeling his team did everything it could to win.
"I couldn't be prouder of our basketball team," Glick says. "It's painful right now. At the same time, when we look back and reflect, I think we maximized everything out of this team."
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 14, 2010
With just under two minutes remaining in the first quarter of the Maryland 2A boys' final, Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford connected with fellow junior Tion Barnes for a picture perfect and electrifying alley-oop. It gave No. 15 Gwynn Park a five-point edge over City at the time, but the lead would be short-lived and the Yellow Jackets' last.
Gwynn Park's shooting went cold after that play; it failed to record a field goal for more than eight minutes. City took control of the game in that stretch, and ultimately prevailed, 56-45, at Comcast Center on Saturday night.
The victory gave the Baltimore school its second straight state title, while Gwynn Park fell short in its first championship game appearance since 2004. The Yellow Jackets' most recent title came in 1988.
"We just went cold at the wrong time," senior forward Mike Hemsley said. "Their height inside definitely was a problem for us and we couldn't really hope to win shooting the way we did."
City has only one starter who is shorter than 6 feet 5, and the Knights (23-2) caused significant problems for the Yellow Jackets (20-7) in the paint. The height differential forced Gwynn Park to the outside, which Coach Mike Glick admits is the weakest part of his team's game.
The Yellow Jackets made 1 of 13 shots from behind the three-point arc, and the ill-timed shooting lulls didn't help either. They shot 29 percent from the field the entire game, compared to City's 48 percent. The Knights also limited the opportunities for Ford, Gwynn Park's catalyst.
"It was very hard to get shots off," said Ford, who finished with 14 points. "They just made it tough for me a lot. That one three-pointer I got was probably the best look I got for a three-point shot."
The game never seemed completely out of reach for the Yellow Jackets until the waning minutes of the game. But they weren't able to keep sustained pressure on City.
Led by Hemsley, who recorded 14 of his game-high 22 points in the second half before fouling out with just less than three minutes remaining, Gwynn Park continued to push in the final two frames. But every time the gap shrunk, City answered with a quick basket, never allowing the Yellow Jackets to close what seemed like a constant five-point gap.
"We're not used to playing against 6-8 players inside," Glick said. "Their size definitely affected us; our weakness has been our outside shooting all season. For us it was a really tough matchup; we needed to shoot the ball well to win the game."
Yellow Jackets' shooters struggle against Knights' zone defense in 56-45 loss
by Joshua Hudson | Staff Writer
Rachel Fus/The Gazette
Gwynn Park's Mike Hemsley, who had a game-high 22 points, hides his face after the Yellow Jackets lost Saturday's 2A state championship game to City College at the Comcast Center in College Park.
The Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team's dream of winning a Class 2A state championship came to a disappointing end on Saturday night. The Yellow Jackets lost 56-45 to Baltimore's City College at the University of Maryland, College Park's Comcast Center.
City College has now won back-to-back state titles at the expense of Prince George's County schools. The Knights defeated Frederick Douglass in last year's title game.
"That was the best team we played all year and they are probably the best team in the entire state," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "They had a wide zone and we just didn't shoot well from the outside. That's been a problem for us all season long."
Outside shooting continued to plague the Yellow Jackets (20-6) in Saturday's game. Gwynn Park shot 1 of 13 from 3-point range and shot just 28.9 percent for the game.
City College coach Mike Daniel said his team aimed to make Gwynn Park struggle to find its shot.
"We wanted to put our size out there," Daniel said. "We wanted to challenge all of their shots and rebound the ball. I thought we did a good job of both of those things."
Despite the shooting difficulties, Gwynn Park was in a position to win the game until late in the fourth quarter. The Yellow Jackets led 11-7 in the first quarter after Tion Barnes dunked an alley-oop pass from Brandon Ford. But the Knights answered the dunk with an 8-0 run to take a 15-13 lead in the second quarter.
The game remained close into the fourth quarter as City College slowly pushed the lead to 44-35. The Yellow Jackets answered with a 7-1 run to get within three points at 45-42, but they would get no closer.
Any momentum the Yellow Jackets had was lost on their next possession as Glick was called for a technical foul. The ball was heading out of bounds as a City College player was attempting to save it, but Glick caught the ball as it came toward him on the sideline and handed it to a referee. The referees decided that Glick was interfering in the play and called a technical foul.
"In my 17 years of coaching I have never seen that called," Glick said. "But I don't think that play made a difference in the outcome of the game. They missed one of the free throws and we forced a turnover on the next possession."
But the outside shooting didn't get any better for the Yellow Jackets, which kept them from making a run in the fourth quarter.
Senior Mike Hemsley led Gwynn Park with 22 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter, while Ford chipped in 14 points.
"I couldn't be prouder of the guys," Glick said. "We didn't get a couple of calls down the stretch and this is painful, but we got everything out of this team."
Knights' size contributes to 56-45 win over Gwynn Park
By Rich ScherrSpecial to The Baltimore Sun
March 14, 2010
COLLEGE PARK —
It was no mistake when the public address announcer at Comcast Center introduced defending state champion City as starting two centers in Saturday's Class 2A state final.
On a night when the Knights played far from their best basketball, they used their imposing height in the paint, led by 6-foot-8 Jordan Latham and 6-foot-7 Aron Nwankwo, to frustrate opposing Gwynn Park all night, holding the Prince George's team to 29 percent shooting in a 56-45 win.
"I wanted to put our size out there," said City coach Mike Daniel, who has started dual centers for the past handful of games. "We wanted to go and work. "
City (23-2), which ended its season with 11 straight wins, became the first Baltimore City team to win back-to-back state titles since Dunbar completed its run of four straight in 2006.
Forward Nick Faust, though targeted with a box-and-one defense, scored 19 points to lead the Knights; Latham had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Gwynn Park (20-6), ranked No. 15 by The Washington Post, got a game-high 22 points from forward Mike Hemsley, who made seven of 10 shots from the field. The rest of the Yellow Jackets shot a combined six for 35, with top scorer Brandon Ford finishing with 14 points - six below his average.
"Our weakness all season long has been that we're not a tremendous outside shooting team," Yellow Jackets coach Mike Glick said. "For us, City posed probably our toughest matchup because they played a really wide zone. They're long, and they shaded everything toward Brandon.
"It's really hard to win when you're playing against a great team and you can't put the ball in the basket."
City used its imposing inside defense to establish control in the first half. After falling behind by five points early, the Knights began forcing bad shots and denying Gwynn Park in the paint.
Though sloppy on offense , the Knights took advantage, scoring 11 of the next 13 to pull ahead. When Latham put back his own miss under the basketwith under 5 minutes left in the half, City extended its lead to 21-15.
Faust made certain that City never gave up the lead, nailing a fallaway 3-pointer late in the third.
"I felt it going in once I released it," Faust said. Gwynn Park never pulled closer than three in the fourth quarter.
City credited its difficult schedule against Baltimore City opponents for its ability to flourish against regional competition.
"I feel like if we play tough in our own city, no one can beat us," Latham said.
C-Faust 19, Cheatham 6, Latham 10, Amos 4, Anderson 5, Rasheed 4, Johnson 2, Tapper 6. Totals: 19 14-24 56.
GP-Hemsley 22, Barnes 6, Ford 14, Blue 3. Totals: 13 18-26 45.
Yellow Jackets set to meet defending champ City College for state title in College Park
by Joshua Hudson | Staff Writer
Raphel Talisman/The Gazette-Star
Gwynn Park High School's boys' basketball team celebrates its 69-36 victory against North Carroll in Friday's 2A state semifinals at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center.
The Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team wasted little time clinching a spot in the Class 2A state title game, as the Yellow Jackets crushed North Carroll High, 69-36, Friday night in a state semifinal at the University of Maryland, College Park's Comcast Center.
The Yellow Jackets (19-3) will take on Baltimore's City College (22-2) at 6 p.m. today for the Class 2A state championship. City College, the defending Class 2A state champion, had a similarly easy time against Easton in the other state semifinal Friday, cruising to a 64-38 win behind 21 points from Nick Faust.
The Yellow Jackets played City College last year in the first game of the season. The game was tied in the fourth quarter before the Knights used a 15-0 run to win, 54-36.
"It will be a great challenge for us, but I think we are up to it," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "We have had a rugged season and we had some tough games in Prince George's County. I definitely know our kids aren't going to be scared and it should be a heck of a game."
Gwynn Park did not hesitate to set up its half of the championship game picture.
North Carroll turned the ball over on its first possession and it was all downhill from there for the Panthers. Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Yellow Jackets built a 19-10 lead. They pushed the advantage into double digits at the start of the second quarter on a basket by Tion Barnes. With an 8-0 run a few minutes later, Gwynn Park pushed the lead to 29-12, and the outcome was never in doubt after that.
"Not a lot of people think of us as a 3-point shooting team, so it was very important to hit some early shots," Ford said. "It was real big to knock them down because [North Carroll] started shading over toward me and forgot about the rest of the guys."
The Yellow Jackets were especially dominating on the boards as they held a 47-25 edge in rebounding, including a 14-2 advantage on the offensive glass in the first half.
North Carroll coach Chris Vaughn said Gwynn Park's athleticism was the main difference in the outcome of the game.
"They just absolutely killed us on the boards," Vaughn said. "We came out in a zone and that didn't work because Brandon Ford hit those early 3-pointers."
Mike Hemsley led the Yellow Jackets with 16 points, while Ford added 15 points. Barnes scored 12 and pulled down nine rebounds, while Brian Blue scored five points and dished out seven assists.
This season marks the 20th time Gwynn Park has played in the state semifinals. The Brandywine school won 10 state championships between 1968 and 1988. Gwynn Park has lost in the state title game six times, including four times since 1999. In their most recent trip to the state final four, the Yellow Jackets lost to eventual state champion Winters Mill in the 2008 2A semifinals. Their last state title game appearance was in 2004, when they lost the 3A final to Baltimore's Douglass High, 66-65.
Yellow Jackets seek to win program's first state title in 22 years
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
Leah L. Jones/ The Gazette
Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford goes up for shot against Oakland Mills during the 2A South Region final at Henry A. Wise.
The Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball program has won a county-best 10 state titles in its illustrious history, but it has been 22 years since the Yellow Jackets last hoisted a state championship trophy.
This weekend, the Yellow Jackets (19-3) will try for title No. 11 after winning the 2A South Region title with an overtime victory against Oakland Mills on Saturday. Gwynn Park will take on North Carroll (18-5) in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at the University of Maryland, College Park's Comcast Center.
Defending state champion City College (21-2) takes on Easton (18-4) in the other Class 2A boys' semifinal game.
The Yellow Jackets return to the state semifinals for the first time since 2008, when Winters Mill hit a buzzer-beating shot to slip past Gwynn Park, 58-56, in the semifinals. Winters Mill went on to win the state title.
It's the second trip to the state semifinals for the Brandywine school under coach Mike Glick, who said this season's circumstances are different than those two years ago.
"In 2008, we were senior-dominated and very experienced," Glick said. "This year we have a bunch of younger guys that are contributing to this team."
The Yellow Jackets are battle-tested this season. The team won a thrilling 79-75 decision against Oakland Mills in the region final on Saturday, and doesn't count on just a few players for most of the team's production, like the 2008 squad did.
The Yellow Jackets are led by juniors Brandon Ford (19.8 points, four rebounds, three assists per game) and Tion Barnes (14.5 points, 8.1 rebounds per game, 28 blocks for the season), and seniors Mike Hemsley (13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists), Brian Blue (five points, 4.5 rebounds, three assists) and Curtis Hardy (six points, 4.5 rebounds).
Also adding key contributions for the Yellow Jackets have been sophomore guard Eric Batts, junior guard Daniel Henry and sophomore forward Marcel Boyd .
Ford said that the team possesses certain intangibles.
"It's really like a brotherhood on this team," Ford said. "I love these guys. It's just the way we have bonded this season. We have really grown in our time together. Everybody on the team is on the same page and we are all friends."
North Carroll runs a slow-paced offense that thrives on off-ball screens, back cuts and discipline.
The Panthers are led by 6-foot-5 forward Danny Hoffman (18.6 points, 11.3 rebounds per game), junior forward Charlie Clark (10.2 points, 8.5 rebounds) and senior guard Brian Kron (10.4 points, 2.5 rebounds).
"I think we've gotten to this point because of how well we play together," said coach Chris Vaughn. "Everybody plays a role on this team. We lost last year's regional final game and the region final the year before that."
An interesting coaching matchup could occur if Gwynn Park and City College advance to Saturday's 6 p.m. title game.
When Glick coached at Archbishop Spalding prior to joining Gwynn Park, he had regular showdowns against City College coach Mike Daniel, who then coached at Towson Catholic. Glick said he has a winning record against Daniel in head-to-head meetings.
2A Boys State Semifinals
Gwynn Park (18-3) vs. North Carroll (20-5)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Comcast Center, College Park
Players to watch: Roosevelt: Brandon Ford (19.8 points per game, four rebounds per game, three assists per game); Tion Barnes (14.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg). North Carroll: Danny Hoffman (18.6 ppg, 11.3 rpg); Charlie Clark (10.2 ppg, 8.5 rpg)
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 13, 2010
With a double-digit lead that just kept growing in a Maryland 2A semifinal on Friday night, there was only one thing for 15th-ranked Gwynn Park to decide: Who would win the ongoing dunk competition between forwards Mike Hemsley and Tion Barnes?
It was late in the third quarter when Hemsley, a 6-foot-4 senior, blocked a shot on defense, raced down the court, took a pass and threw one down, earning the right to point at Barnes, who later rated it a "10." Not to be completely outdone, Barnes dunked on a fast break midway through the fourth quarter, then told Coach Mike Glick he was ready to join the other starters on the bench.
It was an enjoyable game on nearly every front for the Yellow Jackets, who started quickly and never were threatened in a 69-36 victory over North Carroll before 2,000 at Comcast Center.
"I just wanted to get a dunk since Mike got one," said Barnes, a 6-foot-5 junior. "Usually we see who can get the first dunk, but since it wasn't a close game, it was who can get the best dunk. You can see he won that one."
Standout senior guard Brandon Ford started the fun for Gwynn Park (20-6), making three consecutive three-pointers in the first two minutes as the Yellow Jackets quickly took over. It was 36-19 at halftime and the margin continued to widen.
"Everyone looks at us as a driving team," Ford said. "It was real important to knock those shots down. Then they started shading things toward me and forgot about" Barnes and Hemsley.
Ford scored 15 points and Barnes had 12 points and nine rebounds, part of a 47-25 rebounding advantage that included 22 on the offensive end.
"It probably was one of our best performances of the season," said Glick, adding that he thought a 73-72 loss to No. 13 Oxon Hill in the Prince George's County championship game helped his players focus for the postseason. "I was really impressed with how we played hard and played smart."
Up next: Gwynn Park will play in Saturday's 6 p.m. final against City College (22-2), which beat Easton, 64-38, in the second semifinal. Zzzzzzzz: With the drive from Brandywine taking longer than expected because of traffic and rain, Gwynn Park's players slept on the bus ride to College Park.
Gwynn Park boys too much for North Carroll in 2A state semifinal
Panthers' breakthrough season ends with 69-36 loss
COLLEGE PARK
The opening minutes of Friday's Class 2A state semifinal gave the North Carroll boys basketball team an early indication of what it was up against in dealing with talented Gwynn Park.
The Yellow Jackets from Prince George's County showed quickness with an immediate steal, strength and athleticism underneath the basket and good aim from the perimeter.
For the Panthers, who played hard and never backed down, it was simply too much.
Mike Hemsley scored 16 points and Brandon Ford added 15 as the Yellow Jackets rolled to Saturday's title game with a 69-36 win over the Panthers.
Despite the season-ending setback, North Carroll (20-6) enjoyed a breakthrough season under second-year coach Chris Vaughn. With five new starters, the Panthers captured the program's first Carroll County championship in 25 years, won the Monocacy Valley Athletic League's Chesapeake Division for the first time and staked claim to their third regional title and first since 1985.
"These kids did something with this team that our school hasn't done in 25 years -- we won a conference championship. We've never done that, so they have a lot of things they can hang their hats on," Vaughn said. "It's more than just coming down here and people saying you played that team and they took it to you pretty good. At the same time, we accomplished a lot as a team and the game is just a glimpse of the season."
On Friday, the Panthers tried everything to try to contain the highly skilled Yellow Jackets (20-5), but the task proved too difficult.
Ford hit three 3-pointers in the game's first three minutes to stake the Yellow Jackets to an 11-2 lead, and the Panthers were never able to recover. After Ford's work from the outside, it was Hemsley and Tion Barnes (12 points) dominating inside for the Yellow Jackets, combining to score 17 first-half points to build an insurmountable 36-19 halftime advantage. Gwynn Park ended with a 47-25 advantage on the boards.
"It was definitely different [compared to other competition the Panthers faced]. We were expecting it, we just didn't plan for it," said Dan Hoffman, a 6-foot-5 forward who finished with a team-high 10 points. "We didn't prepare enough for their athleticism. We didn't box out and they got too many offensive rebounds and second chances."
A Carroll County team ruined Gwynn Park's last experience in the state high school basketball tournament.
On Friday, the Gwynn Park boys - and the Gwynn Park girls, too - have a shot at some revenge.
Gwynn Park takes on Liberty in the girls Class 2A state semifinals at 3 p.m. at UMBC. Four hours later, Gwynn Park faces North Carroll in the boys Class 2A state semis at the University of Maryland.
"It's awesome, it's great for the school, it's great for the community, it's great for us," said Yellow Jackets boys coach Mike Glick.
Glick's last trip to College Park wasn't so great for his players.
They blew an 8-point, fourth-quarter lead and lost to Winters Mill, 58-56, in the 2008 state semifinals on Devon Lesniak's buzzer-beater. Only one current Yellow Jacket was on the varsity that year, and Glick said on Tuesday he would be re-living what he referred to as "an epic game" with his team this week.
"We're watching that tape to show our players the margin of victory. How every possessions matters," he said. "The little things [like] free throws. ... Just to get an idea of what our kids went through and how painful that loss was."
While North Carroll is in the state tournament for the first time in 25 years in search of its first championship, Gwynn Park is a traditional Maryland powerhouse with 10 state titles. Glick is 75-23 in four years at Gwynn Park,, which is making its eighth trip to the state tournament in the past 16 years but is seeking its first championship since 1988.
Gwynn Park has three players who average in double-figures for scoring, including 6-foot-3 junior point guard Brandon Ford (19.8 points, 3.0 assists per game), whom Glick said is being recruited by schools from the Ivy and Patriot leagues. They also have size, with 6-4 and 6-5 starters and a 6-8 sixth man.
North Carroll is big, too, with forwards Danny Hoffman (6-5) - Carroll County's third-leading scorer and top rebounds - and Charlie Clark (6-4), but Glick says the similarities end there.
"The game presents two totally different styles and matchups - they play a style of ball that we're not used to seeing and we play a style that they're not used to seeing," he said. "We're up and down the court, offensively, scoring about 71 points per game. They're more of a deliberate team, a lot more screening and sharing the ball."
Friday's girls game involving Gwynn Park also presents some contrasts.
While Liberty is far from senior-laden, the Lions (19-6) do have quite a bit of experience with senior post player Shelby Nemecek and junior guards Maggie McCormick and Beka Coughlin. Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets (20-3) boast five freshman.
Second-year Gwynn Park coach Michael Strother admits his team made it to states a little ahead of schedule.
"My overall plan was a three-year program, but they really surprised me," he said. "They put in a lot of offseason work and conditioning and a lot of them played on AAU teams. We were just fortunate to get everybody together and do what we did this year."
The Yellow Jacket freshmen include their top scorer and rebounder in 6-2 forward Caira Washington (14 points, 12 boards per game) and point guard Genesis Lucas (10 points, four assists per game). Strother called Washington's future "unlimited." He said the freshmen have blended beautifully with their one senior and junior leaders Jasmine Simms and Channell Mackey.
"They've been really amazing. The kids really came together," Strother said. "I knew we were going to be talented, I just didn't know that they'd be able to turn things around as fast as they did."
Reach staff writer Bob Blubaugh at 410-857-7895 or bob.blubaugh@carrollcountytimes.com
COLLEGE PARK - For Gwynn Park, Friday served as a little bit of redemption.
The Yellow Jackets were knocked out in the 2008 2A boys basketball state semifinal on a buzzer-beater by Winters Mill's Devon Lesniak.
Gwynn Park didn't let things come down to the buzzer this time, beating North Carroll 69-36 in Friday's 2A state semifinal at the Comcast Center.
The Yellow Jackets, who are making their 20th Final Four appearance, will face City in today's 2A state final.
"I thought our players really executed the game plan," Gwynn Park head coach Mike Glick said. "We were fortunate we got off to a good start and I think that was the key to the game."
Meanwhile, Friday marked the end of a historic run for the Panthers.
North Carroll had won 18 of its last 20 games and was fresh off last Saturday's emotional win over Walkersville in the 2A West final. The regional title was the Panthers' first since 1985.
However, the Yellow Jackets' athleticism was too much for North Carroll to handle. The Panthers got behind 11-2 just over two minutes into the game and trailed by 17 at halftime.
"We didn't prepare enough for their athleticism," NC senior forward Danny Hoffman said. "We didn't box out, they got offensive rebounds and second chances, and that's how they won the game."
Gwynn Park outrebounded North Carroll 47-25 and held the Panthers to just 28 percent shooting from the field. The Yellow Jackets had 22 offensive rebounds.
Hoffman (18.6), Brian Kron (10.4) and Charlie Clark (10.2), who all came into the game averaging double-digit points, were held to just 23 points combined.
"We've been doing it all year with Charlie and Danny, trying to get it inside," NC coach Chris Vaughn said. "Brian's been able to hit the outside shot when it's open.
"That was our game plan and it didn't really work out. They matched us height for height and their athleticism really took care of business."
Even though the season didn't end exactly how the Panthers had planned, Vaughn was able to reflect on North Carroll's special run after the game.
"I let the kids know ... you never look at the end result, you have to look at the whole journey," Vaughn said. "These kids did something that no team has done at our school for 25 years. They've got a lot to hang their hats on ... and we accomplished a lot this season."
Gwynn Park (69): Mike Hemsley 16, Brandon Ford 15, Tion Barnes 12, Chris Hardy 6, Brian Hall 6, Brian Blue 5, Eric Batts 4, Daniel Henry 3, Kevin Miles 2.
North Carroll (37): Danny Hoffman 10, Charlie Clark 8, Brian Kron 5, Steven Bosley 4, Trevor Walzl 3, Cody Mewhirter 2, Tyler Janowitz 2, Kyle Blackiston 2.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Gwynn Park junior Brandon Ford has a term for those clutch plays when a game is on the line. Like his steal and layup with 2 minutes 26 seconds left in overtime, or his drive and bucket that drew a foul 30 seconds later -- two plays that helped the Yellow Jackets to a 79-75 overtime win over Oakland Mills on Saturday in the Maryland 2A South region final at Wise in Upper Marlboro.
"It's just mad stuff," Ford said. "Adrenaline, whatever you want to call it. I call it mad stuff."
Ford had a game-high 33 points -- including 18 in the fourth quarter and overtime -- to help Gwynn Park (19-5) advance to the state semifinals Friday at Comcast Center against North Carroll.
Ford's crucial plays over a 60-second stretch -- the steal and layup, then another nice drive and bucket that drew a whistle (he missed the free throw) and finally a crucial rebound in a crowd -- helped Gwynn Park's increase its lead to six with 1:28 remaining.
And when the lead was cut down time and again, Ford knocked down 4 of 4 free throw attempts.
"I just didn't want to lose," Ford said. "My teammates were just telling me to take over and they have trust in me, so I took it upon myself."
A little less than halfway through the fourth quarter of Saturday's 2A South Region championship game, it looked like the Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team was about to see its season end against Oakland Mills High.
The Scorpions appeared in control of the game after junior forward Kerry Bethea hit a layup with 5 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the game to give his team an eight-point lead.
Nine minutes of game time later, the Yellow Jackets punched their ticket to next week's state semifinals. The Yellow Jackets came up with a series of clutch plays to force overtime and eventually prevailed, 79-75, at Henry A. Wise High in Upper Marlboro.
Gwynn Park will head to the University of Maryland, College Park's Comcast Center to take on North Carroll at 7 p.m. Friday. The Yellow Jackets have one of the county's most storied programs, with 10 state championships in their history. This year marks the Brandywine school's 20th trip to the state semifinals.
Yellow Jackets' junior guard Brandon Ford kept his team in the game, scoring 16 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.
"I just didn't want to lose," Ford said. "It was our goal to win the county, region and state championship and while we didn't win the county championship, we got the region. Our seniors wanted this game so bad."
Gwynn Park junior forward Marcel Boyd had perhaps the biggest play in a game that was filled with great plays. With the Yellow Jackets trailing, 54-49, with 3:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, Boyd came up with a blocked shot despite facing a three-on-one fast break.
Another critical play for the Yellow Jackets was a steal and layup by senior forward Tion Barnes with 29 seconds to play that gave the Yellow Jackets their first lead since the 6:19 mark of the third quarter.
Gwynn Park had its hands full with the Scorpions' Greg Whittington, Sean O'Callaghan and Bethea, who combined to score 48 points and gave the Yellow Jackets problems all afternoon.
But both Whitting and Bethea fouled out of the game in the first 17 seconds of overtime.
"The game was never in doubt in my mind because we've been down by a lot before this season and came back," Barnes said. "I didn't feel that [the 6-foot-7 Whittington] was that tough of a matchup. I thought [Bethea] was much more of a problem for us. We wanted this game for all of our seniors so we can keep our dream alive of finishing as champions."
The Yellow Jackets got a balanced effort as Mike Hemsley (17 points), Brian Blue (five points, double-digit rebounds), Curtis Hardy (15 points), Barnes (six points, double-digit rebounds) and Ford all had key contributions.
"They have the heart of lions," Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick said of his players. "These kids were all a part of our junior varsity program and it's a testament to our program. The way they played in this game is a microcosm of our season."
Yellow Jackets win evenly matched game on Thursday, move on to 2A South final
by Ted Black | Staff Writer
Rachel Fus/The Gazette
Gwynn Park's Tion Barnes pivots after grabbing a rebound during the first half of Thursday's 2A South Region semifinal game against Frederick Douglass.
In the days after the Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team suffered a 73-72 setback against Oxon Hill in the Prince George's County Championship game on Feb. 24, Gwynn Park senior Mike Hemsley and his four senior teammates held a players-only meeting to try and put that game behind them and begin focusing on the 2A South Region tournament.
Thursday evening, in front of a capacity crowd at Gwynn Park High in Brandywine, the Yellow Jackets shook off several droughts and disposed of rival and reigning region champion Frederick Douglass, 64-60, in a 2A South Region semifinal.
Hemsley and his Gwynn Park teammates will face Oakland Mills on Saturday in the 2A South Region final at Henry A. Wise High School in Upper Marlboro. The winner will advance to the 2A state semifinals at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center next week.
"Me and the other four seniors all got together with the other players without the coaches," Hemsley said of their impromptu meeting after the loss to Oxon Hill. "We just wanted to make sure that we would stay together. That [county championship] game hurt. But it wasn't the end of the season. We had to get back and start working on our goal of winning the region. Douglass knocked us out the last two years, so it meant a lot that we beat them my senior year. Now we're going to play for the region championship."
Through three quarters of play the game was so evenly matched that both teams were in position to make a pivotal run. Douglass, whi
(Mark Gail/The Washington Post) - Gwynn Park's Xavier Richards gets an easy layup in the first quarter as Potomac's Davon Williams looks on.