Gwynn Park Defeats Flowers, Wins County Championship

It was apparent from his first shot of the game that Agyei Gregory had his shooting stroke working Wednesday.

After he made his first 3-pointer of the night, the St. Thomas, Virgin Islands native would attempt five more over the course of the game. Each of his subsequent shots from downtown swished through the net just as smoothly as his first.

The Gwynn Park boys’ basketball team rode the impeccable three-point shooting of its senior sniper en route to claiming the Prince George’s County championship, defeating Charles H. Flowers 57-51. Gwynn Park’s title is the second in program history and the first at the school for head coach Mike Glick, who had taken the Yellow Jackets to two other county championships, each ending in defeat.

Gregory led all scorers in the contest with 22 points, including shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc. Late in the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets (18-5) threatened to pull away from Flowers for good with an 11-3 scoring run which included the last two of Gregory’s six threes, each coming on passes from Marcel Boyd, who himself had been commanding more attention in the post. The run increased Gwynn Park’s lead to 44-33. Gregory would also add eight rebounds and two assists in his efforts.

“He’s always shot the ball well and this is the best he’s shot the ball this season, and he stepped up at a crucial time,” Glick said.

“After [Gregory] shot the ball a couple of times we didn’t do a good job of identifying him and closing down and making him put the ball on the floor,” Flowers coach Billy Lanier said.

The presence of Boyd in the low post also paid dividends for Gwynn Park. The Howard-bound senior notched another double-double, scoring 13 points, grabbing 12 rebounds, blocking three shots, and challenging several other shots. His ability as an offensive threat helped open up opportunities for his teammates, including both Gregory and Xavier Richards, who also posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“When you have a 6-8 kid like that who can score it makes it a whole lot easier for the guards,” Lanier said.

Three of Boyd’s 13 points came in an unusual circumstance at the end of the first quarter. On an inbounds play, he banked in his first three of the season on a buzzer-beating half-court shot after not finding any teammates open to pass to.

Perhaps Boyd’s most impactful play of the night came late in the fourth quarter, with the Yellow Jackets leading 48-46. As he had done several other times in the game, he received a pass in the low post with the Jaguars’ Darret Gorham guarding him. Boyd got past Gorham with a post move and scored on a layup while getting fouled. He would convert on the three-point play and give Gwynn Park a five-point lead which it would not relinquish.

“Marcel is really developing as a player and I thought tonight he was very assertive offensively,” Glick said. “His presence inside was the difference in the game.”

Despite falling behind by 11 late in the third quarter, Flowers (16-5) battled back to tie the score with a 13-2 run in the fourth quarter due to forcing turnovers and clutch shooting, but Boyd’s presence in the middle of Gwynn Park’s 2-3 zone defense forced the Jaguars to settle for 23 3-pointers, of which they made nine. Junior guard Dontae Holloway led the Jaguars with 12 points on four-of-eight shooting from behind the arc.

“We got good looks the whole game,” Lanier said. “We had a couple of rim-outs and bad luck, and shots just didn’t go down tonight. We have to do a better job of getting easier opportunities on offensive rebounds and we didn’t do that.”

Gwynn Park’s switch to the 2-3 zone was unusual for a team that mainly plays man-to-man, but because Glick knew that Flowers attacks the basket often, he wanted to get the Jaguars out of their comfort zone with the defensive change. Lanier credited Boyd with clogging the lane and making it difficult for his team.

Because both teams won their own leagues and hold top seeds in their respective regional tournaments, the teams will next take the court Tuesday and await the results of Friday’s first-round action. Despite losing the county championship, Lanier can now focus his team on many goals that still lie ahead of the Jaguars.

“At the end of the day, our goal was to win our league, and we did,” Lanier said. “And then play in the regional and hopefully be successful. Our goals are still in front of us.”