JOHNS CREEK - It's commonly known in athletics that beating a team twice in one season is hard and doing it three times nearly impossible, especially when the second and third meetings come within days of each other and the latter is for a championship: of any sort.

Gainesville boys basketball has been unbothered by the norm all season however, as evidenced by early-season underdog wins over state powerhouses Woodward Academy and Dutchtown en route to a No. 1 ranking in Class 5A; grind-it-out, two-point wins on the road against Top-10 teams in Milton and Johns Creek; and not faltering under the spotlight a season-long top ranking can bring on its way to an undefeated season.

The Red Elephants (27-0) stayed unbothered and in doing so continued bucking the norm Thursday night as they beat fifth-ranked Johns Creek 58-46, topping the Gladiators for the third time this season, this win for the Region 7-5A championship at Chattahoochee High School.

Down 17-13 after the first quarter, Big Red outscored the Gladiators 21-5 in the second led by 13 points in the quarter by the game's leading scorer Brandon Nelson, who finished with 23 points.

Region co-player and co-defensive player of the year KJ White took over where Nelson left off in what turned out to be a game-clinching third quarter scoring 50% of his team's points as Gainesville once again outscored its opponent 14-10, building a 16-point lead going into the final frame, one that despite what was indicated in the early part of the game, served as nothing more than a celebratory stomp to a second-straight region title.

White finished with 12 points; Quintin Nelson rounded out the Red Elephants double-digit scorers with 10.

Gainesville hit 11 of its 13 free throws in the game and maintained its reputation as a menacing unit on defense keeping Johns Creek within reach of the 44 points per game allowed by Big Red when playing region opponents.

Having officially earned the No. 1 seed out of Region 7-5A with its tournament win, Gainesville moves into the Class 5A state tournament where it will face Chamblee at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday in Davis-Hill Gym.

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