The third time is a dynasty.

Norcross became the first school in 68 years to win three straight boys championships in the highest classification Friday night by defeating Wheeler 57-54 in the Class AAAAA final at the Gwinnett Arena.

Mikki K. Harris/Staff (ENLARGE)

Norcross' A.J. Hawkins (cq), center celebrates his team's win over Wheeler in their AAAAA Boys' State Basketball Championship Final game at Gwinnett Arena.

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In other news in domination, DeKalb County claimed the other three titles at the Arena. The winners were Stephenson's girls (AAAAA), Columbia's boys (AAAA) and Southwest DeKalb's girls (AAAA).

"Basketball, it's good in DeKalb," said Stephenson girls coach Dennis Watkins. "It gets overlooked because of football, but there's a lot of talent in DeKalb."

But in the main event, a game between nationally ranked teams that had won five of the last six AAAAA boys championships, Norcross went up 17-2, blew the lead by the third quarter, but found resolve in the final minutes.

Al-Farouq Aminu, a Wake Forest signee, hit a 3-pointer to give Norcross the lead for good 49-46 with 2:48 to play and Norcross fans chanted, "Dy-nas-ty! Dy-nas-ty!"

"It's one of the best games I've ever been a part of," Aminu said. "It had all the elements — three-peat on the line, Wheeler against Norcross. I can't imagine two people weren't in every seat."

The last team to win the big schools title three straight times was Lanier of Macon from 1938 to 1940.