1. Coach Glick and Meade Mustang Boys Basketball
  2. Announcements

Seasons

News and Announcements

RSS Feed 

Post Author Picture

Gwynn Park center steps up on, off the court

Posted by Michael Glick at Feb 15, 2012 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )

 Thursday, February 16, 2012

Marcel Boyd always had a lengthy list of chores growing up: taking out the trash, cutting the grass, sweeping the floor, vacuuming the steps, cleaning his room, cleaning the living room, cleaning the basement.

And as the son of an Army officer and a corrections officer, he never had any leeway in completing his tasks.

But as a high school sophomore, Boyd faced his biggest responsibility: taking care of his brothers, 3 and 10 years younger than him, while his father served for a year in Iraq and Afghanistan and his mother worked.

"It was stressful,” said Boyd, who's now a senior at Gwynn Park. “It was my first year playing basketball. I had a lot on my plate.”

To find his way, Boyd emulated his dad. He made his younger brothers do their homework immediately after school, just as his father made him. And when they didn't want to do their chores, he was firm with them, just as his father was with him.

“Sometimes, I'd say stuff to my brother, and he'd be like, ‘Man, You're acting like dad. You're acting like dad.'” Boyd said. “Well, he's not here, so I have to take on that responsibility. You always say that you don't want to be like your parents, but I always find myself feeling like I'm my father.”

Boyd also missed some AAU games that year, his first playing varsity basketball. Moving between Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Maryland — with more stops in some states than he can remember — he never settled in one place long enough to establish himself on a team.

If that slowed Boyd's progress, he's well on his way now. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound center is averaging 12.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.1 blocks per game for Gwynn Park, which would win at least a share of the Prince George's County 3A/2A/1A League title with a win against Friendly on Thursday.

“He's been our MVP,” Gwynn Park coach Michael Glick said of Boyd, who was the team's ninth man as a sophomore and eighth man as a junior before signing with Howard University last fall. “If he was still available, he would have numerous offers off of what he's done this year.”

Boyd has been part of Gwynn Park's ROTC program since he enrolled in the school as a freshman. He doesn't plan to enlist in the military — he wants to become a firefighter — but he wanted to keep his connection with a military lifestyle.

He still addresses adults as “sir” and “ma'am,” and the ROTC class has taught him about leadership and different ways to motivate people. Boyd often speaks of “good pressure” — the kind of pressure that encouraged him to do his chores, the pressure that helped him improve on the court to the point he earned a college scholarship and the pressure the forced him to step up while his father, who has served for 19 years and plans to retire soon, was overseas.

“It made me see through my father's eyes of how stressful life can be and how much you need to appreciate the things that you have while they're there,” Boyd said. “It definitely made me more mature.”

dfeldman@gazette.net

Post Author Picture

Washington Post Rankings 2-14-12

Posted by Michael Glick at Feb 13, 2012 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )

Washington Post Rankings 2-14-12

 Boys Basketball
PostRankSchoolRecord
1 Paul VI Catholic 25-2
2 DeMatha 25-3
3 Magruder 20-1
4 Gonzaga 24-4
5 Riverdale Baptist 30-2
6 Montrose Christian 17-2
7 Episcopal 19-3
8 Bullis 24-3
9 North Point 20-2
10 Gar-Field 23-1
11 Arundel 21-1
12 Coolidge 25-6
13 Thomas Stone 21-1
14 Springbrook 18-3
15 Gwynn Park 17-5
16 Spingarn 21-5
17 Westfield 20-4
18 W.T. Woodson 20-4
19 Eleanor Roosevelt 18-4
20 Urbana 17-4
Post Author Picture

Largo tops Gwynn Park to move in first place tie

Posted by Michael Glick at Feb 13, 2012 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )
Monday, February 13, 2012
 Largo tops Gwynn Park to move in first place tie
advertisement
Photos from Monday's game
Largo High School's Damante McNeill left the gym, looked at his travelling party and declared: “I'm driving.”

That was appropriate because he had taken the wheel all night, leading the Lions boys basketball team to a 68-55 win over visiting Gwynn Park. McNeill -- whose 6-foot-5, 260-pound frame screams forward -- spent a bulk of the second half initiating the offense like point guard in a game that left both teams with identical 15-2 records in Prince George's County 3A/2A/1A League standings.

Both teams are scheduled to play their final league game Thursday, and if either wins, it clinches at least a share of the conference title. Each team would also clinch at least a share of the conference title if the other loses.

Largo is scheduled to host Forestville, which it beat by eight in January. Gwynn Park is scheduled to host Friendly, which it beat by nine in January.

Largo coach Lewis Howard said he's concerned with only one game Thursday.

“We're not going to be rushing to the paper,” said Howard, whose team avenged a two-point loss to loss to Gwynn Park a month ago. “We're not going to be rushing to call the Post, The Gazette. It is what it is. We play our game, and we take care of our business, we shouldn't have to worry about anybody else.

“A title's a title. There's people who coach their whole careers and never get a title, so we'll take it. Our kids have earned it. If it's outright, it's outright. If it's co, it's co. It's still a title.”

Largo is in a position to win a conference championship in large part due to McNeill. He finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists, and several of his passes led to free throws for his teammates.

Perhaps his biggest accomplishment was finding Michael Graham often, including a third-quarter alley oop that helped blow the game open. Graham, who scored just three points in Largo's first game against Gwynn Park, admitted he can lose focus when he doesn't get the ball.

So, before the game, McNeill told Graham he'd get him the ball.

“He told me to stay with, keep my head, and then we're going to win,” said Graham, who was engaged offensively and defensively and finished with 17 points, 18 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. “So, I listened, and then we won.”

McNeill said his favorite thing to do on the basketball court is play like a point guard, especially when he's setting up his teammates.

“And then I take my man off the dribble and get to the basket,” McNeill said. “It's just easy.”

He didn't have much more difficulty after the game. After a brief protest, he did drive home.

McNeill got behind the wheel, turned on the lights and drove out of the Largo High School parking lot -- Gwynn Park in his rearview mirror, Forestville and a possible league title straight ahead.

dfeldman@gazette.net

Largo 68, Gwynn Park 55

Gwynn Park 17 9 17 12 55

Largo 8 22 20 18 68

Gwynn Park (16-5, 15-2): Jarvis Hawkins 23, Marcel Boyd 9, Xavier Richards 8, Jalen Harris 6, Agyei Gregory 5, Robert Flint 2, Achkel Bazil 2.

Largo (17-4, 15-2): Michael Graham 17, Damante McNeill 16, Derrick Colter 16, Lafayette Nelson 11, Khari Sewell 4, Daemond Carter 4.

Post Author Picture

Graham-McNeill combo leads Largo boys past No. 15 Gwynn Park

Posted by Michael Glick at Feb 13, 2012 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )

Graham-McNeill combo leads Largo boys past No. 15 Gwynn Park

Video: Michael Graham and Damante McNeill were too much to handle on the inside as Largo tops Gwynn Park.

By , Published: February 13

Largo senior Michael Graham is a 6-foot-5 athletic forward who can throw down a dunk with the best of them. His teammate, senior Damante McNeill, is a 6-4 forward who packs the muscle and size to fight inside for positioning and rebounds.

Both have had standout games for the Lions this season but more often than not they haven’t come at the same time. Case in point: the last time Largo faced No. 15 Gwynn Park in mid-January, they fell by two.

But in Monday night’s rematch, Graham and McNeill had perhaps their best combined outing of the season to power host Largo to a 68-55 upset of Gwynn Park.

“We just kept our heads together in the game and we just knew where each other was going to be on the court and what to do,” said Graham, who finished with a team-high 17 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks.

While both players are among the best post players in Prince George’s 3A/2A/1A, both acknowledged after Monday’s win that sometimes their best games haven’t coincided.

“When he has a good day in practice, he does well in the game,” said McNeill, who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. “When I have a good day in practice, I do well in the game. It’s what we do in practice.”

Added Largo Coach Lew Howard: “Consistency is the most important thing. They’ve both been playing really well throughout the season and I thought tonight if both of them gave us a really good effort we’d have a chance to win.”

Against a tough Gwynn Park (16-5, 15-2) team, both players did. The Yellow Jackets — who defeated the Lions, 78-76, on Jan. 13 — jumped out to a 17-8 first quarter lead on Monday. But the Lions (17-4, 15-2) used the inside moves of McNeill and the vacuum cleaner-like rebounding of Graham to take a 30-26 halftime lead.

The two connected on one play early in the third quarter when McNeill lobbed the ball toward the basket and Graham snatched it out the air and slammed it in for a dunk — his second such play of the game.

Largo’s standout point guard Derrick Colter was in his usual form (16 points) until he began cramping in the second half. Gwynn Park, led by senior guard Jarvis Hawkins (23 points), trimmed a 15-point deficit to seven points by the start of the fourth quarter.

But Graham and McNeill proved too much down the stretch for the Yellow Jackets.

“The sky’s the limit,” McNeill said. “If we play together like this, the sky’s the limit.”

Post Author Picture

Gwynn Park Holds Off Potomac 61-56

Posted by Michael Glick at Feb 3, 2012 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )

Gwynn Park Holds Off Potomac

by: Kevin Green 2/4/2012

Photos: Boys Basketball: Potomac vs. Gwynn Park (2/3/2012);

Gwynn Park senior center 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.”