Building plan pays off with Gainesville’s ascension to No. 1
The No. 1-ranked Gainesville basketball team appeared to be on the ropes.
Midway through the third quarter of Saturday’s game against Cedar Grove in the Grayson New Year’s Classic, Gainesville appeared lifeless and found themselves losing by nine points. It was only the second time the Red Elephants had trailed by that much all season.
But without a sniff of panic, the team dug in on defense, got a few stops and began to chip away. They tied the score with 3:37 left and pulled away for a 51-46 win over Cedar Grove, last year’s Class 3A runner-up.
“This is a seasoned group,” coach Charlemagne Gibbons said. “They’ve been there before. Their camaraderie, their selflessness with each other. Great kids. Great families. We don’t have any behavioral problems. We don’t have any academic problems. We’ve been able to really focus on basketball.”
The Class 5A Red Elephants (16-0) are ranked No. 1 in Georgia by MaxPreps in the entity’s all-classification rankings, ahead of Class 6A powers Grayson and Wheeler. Gainesville will resume region competition Tuesday against Milton, a team that beat the Red Elephants twice last season.
“I’ve been the No. 1 team in the state before (but) not won a state championship,” Gibbons said. “At the end of the day, we want to be the No. 1 team in March.”
Gibbons is on schedule with his building project that began three years ago. He was lured away from Newton after four seasons, where he produced two 20-win seasons and took the team to the Class 6A semifinals in 2022-23. Gibbons has an impressive record; he won a state championship at Morgan County in 2014 and spent four seasons as an assistant at Florida Atlantic.
He was recruited to breathe life into a Gainesville program that had become average. The program’s fans still long for the days of coach Jerry Davis, who won 704 games and two state championships and now has his name on the gymnasium.
After going 11-18 in 2023-24 in Gibbons’ first season, the Red Elephants appeared to be on the brink last year. They won the Region 7 championship and took a full head of steam into the playoffs, only to be stunned by No. 4-seed Sprayberry 70-49 in the first round.
That loss has provided plenty of motivation for this year’s team.
“I think it’s a prideful group of guys,” Gibbons said. “You know how it is when you’ve gotten better and all of a sudden you get popped? Now your pride gets put on the line because they didn’t understand that people are gunning for them. It’s easier to be the hunter instead the hunted, right? I think they found that out.”
Senior forward Charlie Gersmehl said, “It’s not like it really haunts us, but it’s definitely something to learn from. Our goal is to get way further than that this year.”
There are plenty of weapons. Gersmehl, a 6-foot-8 forward who has signed with Belmont, is an excellent defender with diverse offensive skills. K.J. White is a 5-10 point guard, who can score (he had 24 points in the championship game of the Lanierland Tournament and was named MVP) and defend. Quinton Mansfield, who transferred in from Grayson last season, is a 6-6 forward who has signed with Troy. Bryce Jackson and sixth-man Brandon Marshall bring experience and grit.
“I think we play big and we play fast,” Gershmehl said. “The pressure up top by our guys really helps get us into our energy.”
The Red Elephants also feature 7-footer Kevin Curtis, who came to the game late. He continues to work on the offensive component, but already is a top inside defender, where he is especially active.
“He’s still coming along, but he can really alter a lot of stuff in the game,” Gibbons said. “We tell him every day, what he does doesn’t come out of the stat sheet. He does a lot of stuff — challenging shots, altering shots, a lot of threat at the rim.”
To help avoid an early playoff departure this season, Gibbons set up difficult schedule. Big Red has played traditional Georgia powers Kell, Dutchtown, Woodward Academy, Chattahoochee and Cedar Grove. They have beaten five out-of-state schools and won the Hall County Lanierland tournament for the first time since 2022.
“I’ve always been that way,” Gibbons said. “Georgia has such great basketball that if you don’t play the best teams, it doesn’t do anything for your team at the end of the year.”
About the Author
Stan Awtrey has been covering sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1977. He currently writes about high school sports, Georgia State University athletics and golf.
