The Potomac and Gwynn Park high school boys' basketball teams treated fans to an early-season matchup Friday night between two of the County 3A/2A/1A League's best teams that lived up to the hype.

Much has been made about the wealth of talented teams in the league, and the Wolverines and Yellow Jackets provided evidence of that, as Potomac pulled out a tough 81-80 victory on its home floor in Oxon Hill.

"It was probably the greatest basketball game I've participated in in a long time," said Potomac coach Torrence Oxendine.

The teams shot 83 free throws between them, and had the Yellow Jackets made their free throws late in the game, they would have won. But the Gwynn Park did exactly the opposite, missing 9 of 10 at the line in the last 5 minutes of the game. Meanwhile, Potomac went 27 of 39 at the foul line. Gwynn Park was 26 of 44.

The Wolverines (2-0) were paced by 25 points from guard Devin Miller, 21 points from forward Antonio Jenifer, 15 points from point guard Da'Ron Wiseman and 11 from David Brockenberry.

The Yellow Jackets (1-1) got a game-high 30 points from junior guard Brandon Ford and, 17 from forward Mike Hemsley and 16 from guard Eric Batts.

"We have a whole lot to work on, but even though we didn't win, I was very proud of the way they came back under adverse conditions," said Yellow Jackets' coach Mike Glick.

The Wolverines controlled the game early, taking a 37-30 lead at the half. But the Yellow Jackets responded in the third quarter with a 32-point burst to take a 62-58 lead into the fourth quarter.

But the final period belonged to the Wolverines, who went on a 15-8 run in the final 4 minutes to pull out the victory.