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.

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.

ncammarota@gazette.net

Gwynn Park 81, Douglass 66

Frederick Douglass 18 12 10 26 — 66

Gwynn Park 19 18 23 21 — 81

Gwynn Park (4-0): Marcel Boyd 23, Xavier Richards 20, Jalen Harris 14, Jarvis Hawkins 11, Trevor Ford 6, Ackhel Bazil 4, Ageyi Gregory 3

Douglass (1-3): JaSahn Johnson 16, Saquan Epps-Walker 16, Mike Cunningham 10, Marvis Davies 10, John Carroll 4, Davonte Gordon 4, Marsalis Hurley 4, Jeffrey Calhoun 2

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