Friendly High School boys' basketball coach Robert Garner accurately predicted Friday's early-season showdown against Gwynn Park when prior to the game he called it a "rumble."

In an early candidate for game of the year in the County 3A/2A/1A League, Gwynn Park earned a huge win on the road in Fort Washington, edging the Patriots, 68-67.

The victory was hard fought for a Class 2A Gwynn Park team team that is 3-1 and already battle tested, having faced two of the area's better Class 3A teams – Friendly and Potomac (an 81-80 setback Dec. 11) – on consecutive Fridays.

"This was a very big win for us," said Yellow Jackets' sophomore guard Eric Batts. "We wanted to come back from that Potomac game and beat Central [Tuesday night] and Friendly. Coach told us we're never out of it."

The game went back and forth most of the way, but the Patriots (2-1) appeared in control and ready to put the game away at the start of the fourth period.

After the Patriots took a 59-48 lead with 6 minutes, 50 seconds remaining, Gwynn Park took a time out, during which coach Mike Glick implored his team that "the game isn't over." And the Yellow Jackets responded – particularly Tion Barnes, who turned up his rebounding and defense and scored all of his eight points in the fourth quarter. Gwynn Park used a 20-8 run to come back and win the game.

"I thought the way the schedule broke was crazy because we had two of the hardest games on the road in a week," Glick said. "That Potomac game really prepared us for this environment. I'm glad we're not in [Class 3A]."

Junior guard Brandon Ford led the Yellow Jackets with a game-high 24 points. Senior forward Mike Hemsley added 20 points. The Patriots were led by a balanced effort from junior forward Davon Moore (17 points), Bernard Savoy (10), Michael Johnson (eight) and Justin Strong (eight).

Patriots' coach Robert Garner said the game could help his team.

"We talked about this all week being a rumble," Garner said. "You have to be able to give a punch and take a punch, and it comes down to the last man standing. We've got to make better decisions out there. This game will help us for many different reasons."

Gwynn Park 68, Friendly 67

Gwynn Park 16 19 13 20 – 68

Friendly 22 20 13 12 – 67

GP (3-1, 2-1) -- Ford 9 4-5 24, Hemsley 9 2-7 20, T. Barnes 4 0-1 8, Batts 4 0-2 8, Henry 3 0-0 6, Blue 1 0-0 2.

F (2-1, 1-0) -- Morton 8 1-2 17, Savoy 5 0-0 12, Johnson 4 0-2 8, Sims 3 0-0 7, Adewole 1 4-4 6, Brooks 3 0-0 6, Strong 3 0-0 6, Baltimore 2 0-1 5.

Much has been made about the wealth of talented teams in the league, and the Wolverines and Yellow Jackets provided evidence of that, as Potomac pulled out a tough 81-80 victory on its home floor in Oxon Hill.

"It was probably the greatest basketball game I've participated in in a long time," said Potomac coach Torrence Oxendine.

The teams shot 83 free throws between them, and had the Yellow Jackets made their free throws late in the game, they would have won. But the Gwynn Park did exactly the opposite, missing 9 of 10 at the line in the last 5 minutes of the game. Meanwhile, Potomac went 27 of 39 at the foul line. Gwynn Park was 26 of 44.

The Wolverines (2-0) were paced by 25 points from guard Devin Miller, 21 points from forward Antonio Jenifer, 15 points from point guard Da'Ron Wiseman and 11 from David Brockenberry.

The Yellow Jackets (1-1) got a game-high 30 points from junior guard Brandon Ford and, 17 from forward Mike Hemsley and 16 from guard Eric Batts.

"We have a whole lot to work on, but even though we didn't win, I was very proud of the way they came back under adverse conditions," said Yellow Jackets' coach Mike Glick.

The Wolverines controlled the game early, taking a 37-30 lead at the half. But the Yellow Jackets responded in the third quarter with a 32-point burst to take a 62-58 lead into the fourth quarter.

But the final period belonged to the Wolverines, who went on a 15-8 run in the final 4 minutes to pull out the victory.

Gwynn Park High School senior Curtis Hardy has no problem being the most annoying player on the basketball court. As a matter of fact, he likes to be compared to gnats at a barbecue because he is always bugging the person he defends.

Hardy did more than just defend in Tuesday night's game against Old Mill. He scored 13 points and pulled down 13 rebounds as the Yellow Jackets beat the Patriots, 74-59. He also put the clamps on Old Mill's Mike Holley, a three-year varsity starter, who scored just six points in the second half as Gwynn Park pulled away.

Hardy did all of this in his first varsity basketball game. But he is used to the spotlight after starting at cornerback and wide receiver for the Gwynn Park football team.

"Really this was just another game for me," he said. "I've played in bigger games than this, so this was just another season opener."

The Yellow Jackets were slow out of the gate, allowing Old Mill to grab an early lead. Gwynn Park didn't take its first lead until the end of the first quarter when Tion Barnes dunked the ball off an offensive rebound to give the Yellow Jackets a 20-19 advantage.

The teams were tied at halftime, and Gwynn Park held a 50-47 advantage entering the fourth quarter. But the Yellow Jackets' relentless attacking of the glass began to wear down the smaller Old Mill lineup. Gwynn Park enjoyed a 39-22 advantage on the boards, including a 20-7 advantage on the offensive glass.

Gwynn Park's aggressiveness also gave it an advantage from the free-throw line, as the Yellow Jackets finished 16 of 31, while Old Mill was just 9 of 13.

Yellow Jackets' coach Mike Glick said his players' aggressiveness in the paint is nothing new and that he expects them to dominate the boards. He added that Gwynn Park's rebounding and low-post presence will get even better once 6-foot-4 senior forward Mike Hemsley returns from his one-game suspension for violating team rules. He said Hemsley should be back for Friday's game at County 3A/2A/1A League rival Potomac.

"I am very happy with how resilient the players were, especially in the second half," Glick said. "I thought that we played better on defense and were more patient on offense. We started playing from the inside out instead of the outside in."

Barnes scored a game-high 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds, while Brandon Ford added 19 points, including 7 of 9 from the foul line.

E-mail Joshua Hudson at jhudson@gazette.net.