Senior Brandon Ford led the Yellow Jackets (3-1) with 22 points, while forwards Tion Barnes and Marcel Boyd dominated the paint, creating second-chance points and often holding the Patriots (1-2) to one shot per possession.

"We challenged our kids," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. "We thought we had a size advantage and that the key to the game was our man-to-man defense and offensive rebounding, and I thought that was our strength tonight. Holding a team like Friendly to 44 points is outstanding, and I thought we did a tremendous job on the boards in the game to get some put-backs."

After trailing by seven at the end of the first quarter, Friendly opened the second quarter with a 7-1 run, sparked by senior Michael Johnson. That brought the Patriots to within one point, but Gwynn Park decisively took control of the game at that point, answering with their 15-3 run, which gave them a 35-22 lead at halftime.

Over that span, the Patriots turned the ball over three times and missed three free throws. Losing focus during games is a problem that has plagued Friendly in the early part of the season, according to coach Rob Garner.

"The story so far is that we've been playing pretty decent basketball in the first and second quarter," Garner said. "Against Surrattsville we're up and against Gwynn Park we're close, but we can't seem to stay focused enough to win a ballgame. Every possession counts in a tough league like this, and they made all the tough plays and we couldn't."

Gwynn Park used a combination of fast-break baskets and more organized possessions to widen their second-quarter lead. Ford and the Yellow Jackets' offense controlled the pace of the game and scored on seven of eight possessions during their run.

"We wanted to push the ball, but if we didn't have anything we wanted to settle down and run our offense because that's what we need to do," Ford said. "We're a fast-break team, but we also can slow down and run our sets."

The Yellow Jackets were able to extend their large lead in the second half by slowing down the speed of the game and letting their offense work. The guards were able to drive through the lane and get to the free throw line while the big men got rebounds and cleaned up in the paint.

"We are a very versatile team that has a lot of different weapons so our philosophy is to drive the ball to the basket rather than settle for jumpers," Glick said.

Gywnn Park 79, Friendly 44

Gywnn Park 19 16 22 22 - 79

Friendly 12 10 13 9 - 44

Gwynn Park (3-1): Brandon Ford 22, Tion Barnes 11, Eric Batts 9, Marcel Boyd 7, Brian Hall 7, Nick Walton 6, Jarvis Hawkins 6, Daniel Henry 4, Hershel Grant 4, Trevor Ford 3.

Friendly (1-2): Michael Johnson 13, Byron Hawkins 9, Davon Morton 6, Victor Blakely 4, Jordan Gaither 4, Rashaad White 3, Kimberly Collins 2, Raynar Gordon 2, Lamont Short 1.