Starting sophomore point guard Brandon Ford suffered a season-ending concussion in the County 3A/2A/1A League title game Feb. 20 in a 13-point loss against Friendly, which was also the last game the Yellow Jackets had played. And their opponent Tuesday, Howard County's Oakland Mills High, was fresh off a big come-from-behind victory against Central in the 2A South Region's opening round on Friday.

But No. 2-seeded Gwynn Park was up to the challenge against the 10th-seeded Scorpions. It seized control by halftime before gradually pulling away during the final 16 minutes of a 66-50 quarterfinal win. Sophomore Tion Coates scored a team-high 18 points for the Yellow Jackets, many of the highlight-reel variety, while seniors Keith Thomas added 13 points and Corey Anderson chipped in 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.

"It's a very precarious situation to be in," said Glick. "We're missing two starters [Ford, and senior forward Maurice Peavy from the middle of the season] and we're playing our first game without our point guard. But we're a very resilient team."

But Glick was happy with the win. His next concern will be in Wednesday's semifinals, when his team hosts Frederick Douglass. The game was played after The Gazette went to press. The Eagles traveled to Charles County Tuesday evening and eliminated third-seeded North Point.

"I was very happy with out effort," said Glick after Tuesday's win. "It's survive and advance, that's the bottom line of it.

"We're going to have a game [Wednesday] against Douglass, a big rival. We're fortunate enough to have beaten them twice. It's an archrival for the right to go to the region final, so we're excited about that."

Gwynn Park (18-5) controlled the tempo against Oakland Mills (14-10), only losing momentum at times on its own turnovers. Though the Scorpions held a brief led of 13-11 after the first quarter, they never led again, though they had tied the game at 27 in the second quarter. There, Coates scored a layup, then followed with a perfect alley-oop dunk from senior point guard Mike Fourth.

Though Gwynn Park never seemed in jeopardy of giving up the lead again, its chances of winning increased with 2 minutes, 37 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Oakland Mills' 6-foot-6 forward/center Brandon Pines fouled out. Anderson dominated the boards thereafter and his teammates began getting consistent closer looks down low, and capped it off with 9-of-13 free-throw shooting in the final quarter.

"It didn't really make a difference when he fouled out," said Anderson. "We just had to come out and play. We probably could have put them away earlier, but we had issues throughout the whole game. We had a lot of turnovers and things like that."

Glick praised the performance of Fourth (seven points, four assists), who had missed the previous seven games. Thomas heated up in the second half, scoring 10 of 13 points, while Coates scored a game-high 14 after intermission.

"I like to dunk it," said Coates. "I had four tonight, two in the first [half] and two more in the second."

Gwynn Park has just one goal in mind, and that is defending its region championship, then the goal will shift toward trying to win the program's first state title in 21 years.

"If we work hard enough, we can win," said Coates. "Nobody ever did the stuff we did in the offseason. We have worked hard for this."

"We're trying to get back to states," added Anderson. "That's our main goal to get back to states and get back to Comcast and win it."

Note: Junior guard Brian Blue scored seven points. Three of them came on a crowd-pleasing three-point shot as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter. Blue released the ball from the left side of three-quarters court and the ball swished through the net to give a Gwynn Park a 10-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter.

E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.

Ford took a hard fall and suffered what Glick called a "severe concussion" during the second quarter of Friday night's game against Friendly. Ford, who has averaged 12.6 points per game this season, left the game and did not return. He was taken to Children's Hospital in the District, where he remained until being released Monday afternoon.

Glick said Tuesday that Ford will make a complete recovery, but will not be available for the playoffs. Gwynn Park, the No. 2 seed in the 2A South Region, begins the postseason at home on Monday against the winner of Friday's first-round game between Central and Oakland Mills.

"It was just a freak play," Glick said. "The good thing is that he's a sophomore. He's still got two more years."

Though only a sophomore, Ford has become the most pivotal player for the Yellow Jackets, who enter the playoffs with a 17-5 overall record, including a 16-2 mark in County 3A/2A/1A League play.

"When you're a sophomore, and you're a point guard in Prince George's County and people are pressing you up and down the floor, it's trial by fire," Glick said. "But he got better as the year went on. He grew into the position, and I thought he had a breakout game against Friendly [on Friday]. He broke their press. He had eight points when he went out. He's a double-figure scorer, but he leads us in charges [taken] and in deflections and assists. It's a very tough loss."

Ford is the second Gwynn Park starter lost for the season. Center Maurice Peavy, who started the first 14 games of the season, has missed the last eight games and remains out with an infected toe.

To take Ford's place in the lineup, Glick will turn to another sophomore, Daniel Henry, who he called one of the top junior varsity point guards in the county. Henry helped the Yellow Jackets' JV team to a 22-0 record this season.

"His first varsity game will be a playoff game," Glick said of Henry. "He's been in many varsity practices and he's more than held his own. The good thing is we have nine days to prepare. We're not giving up by any means."

Both teams entered the game with 16-1 records in the league. Despite a hiccup Wednesday night, when Friendly had its shot at a perfect league record ended by a loss to Potomac, the Patriots responded on Friday against Gwynn Park.

Friendly celebrated senior night in Fort Washington by completing a season sweep of the Yellow Jackets with a 56-43 victory.

The game was perhaps decided at the foul line, where the Yellow Jackets converted on only 14 of 28 attempts and missed 11 free throws in the second half.

"It just came down to free throws," Gwynn Park senior forward Corey Anderson said. "Since I've been here at Gwynn Park, we have never made free throws consistently and it's the same thing."

The Patriots (19-2) shook off Wednesday's 79-76 overtime loss to Potomac with a team effort on a night when leading scorer A.J. Thomas was held to a season-low three points. Senior guard Michael Gonzales had 12 points, and forward Justin Strong had 10 points. The Yellow Jackets (16-5) were led by 11 points from Anderson.

Gwynn Park suffered a loss when guard Brandon Ford (eight points) landed hard after being fouled on a drive to the basket. He suffered a bump on his forehead and a busted lip on the play and was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure for what Glick called a "slight concussion." Glick said he was confident Ford would be available for the playoffs, which get under way with first-round play-in game next Friday and continue the week of March 2.

With the win, Friendly earned the right to take on County 4A League champion Laurel in the county title game at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at Henry A. Wise High. Laurel (17-5 overall) tied with Bowie for the top spot in the County 4A League. Both teams were 16-2 in league play, but the Spartans controlled the tie-breaker, having swept Bowie in two regular season games.