Last season, the Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team felt the time was right to end a two-decade championship drought.

But with star point guard Brandon Ford injured and unavailable for the playoffs, the Yellow Jackets were eliminated in the 2A South Region semifinals by rival Frederick Douglass, a team the Yellow Jackets had beaten twice during the regular season.

Gwynn Park owns a county-best 10 state championships, but the last of those came in 1988. The Yellow Jackets have been in the state final four times since then, but haven't been able to bring another trophy back to Brandywine. This summer, the team is working to send its 2009-10 season on a path toward the state tournament next March at the Comcast Center.

Gwynn Park's roster in the GPS Beltway League at Henry A. Wise High has been in a state of flux, as some of Gwynn Park's more accomplished players participate with club teams and in camps. Ford was among those absent on Monday. But the Yellow Jackets won for the fifth time in seven games Monday evening, 44-37, against Wise, which is competing under the summer league name of Jaguars.

"We expect to win every game and be competitive in every game, which we are, but we still have a long way to go," said Gwynn Park summer coach Jarrett Thompson. "Just because we've won a couple of games in a summer league by no means solidifies where we want to be."

Tion Barnes, a rising junior who has played for the Yellow Jackets the past two seasons, scored a team-high 11 points on Monday.

"Things have been great so far [with summer leagues]," said Barnes. "I have been working on my defense and ballhandling. We're just looking for team chemistry for the regular season."

Rising senior Tim Floyd has returned to Gwynn Park after transferring to Camden Military Academy in South Carolina for his junior year. He attended Gwynn Park as a freshman and sophomore, but opted for military school to improve his academic status.

"I was wanting to come back here the whole time," said Floyd, a point guard. "I had to do at the time what I had to do in order to get back up here."

During his sophomore year, Floyd was part of the Yellow Jackets' team that lost by two points in the 2A state semifinals to eventual champion Winters Mill. He said he's ready to help lead Gwynn Park back into the state playoffs.

"I wasn't a leader when I was a sophomore and freshman, I was more of a follower," said Floyd, who scored nine points on Monday. "Now this year, I want to become more of a voice leader on the court. I like taking on that challenge."

The GPS Beltway League is the only league the Yellow Jackets are participating in this summer. With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, they are in position to earn one of the four playoff spots from the league's Crossover Division.

"The kids need to keep doing what they're supposed to be doing," said Thompson. "How far we go [next season], that depends how hard the kids are determined to work and how healthy we can stay. It's all about getting better."

Monday, Brian Hall scored 10 points for Gwynn Park. Barnes' brother, Raymond, scored eight points, while Brian Blue and Ronald Owens also scored. Blue is a star linebacker for the Yellow Jackets' football team who recently was selected to play at the Maryland Crab Bowl in December. 

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