Cass slowed Chattahoochee's "go-to players" but the Cougars' role players took up the slack -- making some treys at the start of the second half and down the stretch -- while claiming a 67-54 victory in the Region 7-AAAA tournament being hosted at Cass High.

The loss ended the season for the Colonels just one game shy of returning to the state playoffs.

Head coach Greg Scott said his Colonels curbed the numbers of Trey Archambeau, Jaron Blossomgame and Markus Terry and put the onus on the role players to win the game.

"Their role players did a good job of stepping up and scoring," Scott said. "Our plan was to make them do that. We felt like if we played them straight up they would have gone to their stars a lot more. We executed our plan and their role players did just enough to get them a win."

Cass was at a height disadvantage with several key players at or below 5' 10" while its tallest player was 6' 4," Chattahoochee fielded two starters who are 6' 7" with a third standing 6' 3".

Cass held Archambeau, Blossomgame and Terry to a total of 29 points on the evening but the role players put up 38 points.

The Cougars opened the game with a hot hand, rambling out to a 17-4 lead with just under four minutes showing in the opening quarter. Then Cass exploded with two deuces by Najae Jackson, one each by Zeke Reed and Kadeem Sutton and a trey by Tony Mitchell against a trey by Chattahoochee's to close to 20-15 at the end of the first period.

Reed added a trey while Mitchell sank a bucket to knot the game at 20-all a minute into the second quarter and Mitchell gave the Colonels their first lead of the night with a bucket at the 5:04 mark. Rashon Dumas made an old-fashion 3-point play -- a deuce and a foul shot -- to reclaim the lead for the Cougars. Chattahoochee held a 26-24 lead at the break.

The Cougars roared out of the gate in the third quarter, sinking 3 treys and three deuces, while Cass managed a bucket by Sutton and trailed 39-26 three and a half minutes into the period. Cass finished the quarter with a 12-10 run and the Cougars were up 49-38 after three periods of play. Chattahoochee outscored Cass 23-14 in the period.

Cass closed to 49-42 with two quick buckets in the final quarter, but the Cougars would have none of it and responded with a 9-3 run to go up 58-45 with about four minutes remaining. The two teams closed game with a 9-9 run, to conclude scoring at 67-54.

Coach Scott said the treys were deadly.

"The 3s were something we had to take a chance on because we are at such a height disadvantage on the inside. If we go out and try to pressure them a lot like we tried in the last two or three times we played them, then they hurt us with their height inside."

He said although the Colonels fell a game short of the state playoffs, he is proud of their effort Tuesday night and during the season.

"We played a lot of games close all season. We've put our team in a lot of situations this year where we're outmanned in terms of height. But at no time did our guys use that as an excuse.

"They laced their shoes up tight and went out and played hard every game and gave ourselves a chance to win. Even in some close games we lost, we had a chance to win. That's a credit to our guys. It's a standard set by guys here before them and it's a standard this team carried on and the standard that players coming into our program have to look up to."

He saluted the Cougars for their win.

"Chattahoochee has a good program and they'll do a good job representing our region in state," he added. "They have good players and good coaches."

The loss dropped Cass to 14-13 on the season while Chattahoochee improved to 21-5.

Jozelle Payne led Cass in scoring with 19. Tony Mitchell contributed 12.

Rashon Dumas sank 15 for Chattahoochee.