Chattahoochee 65, Cass 60

Chattahoochee 65, Cass 60

Cass played state-ranked Chattahoochee toe-to-toe Saturday but came up short and fell 65-60 to the state’s No. 4 ranked team.

The Cougars got off to the faster start, taking a 19-13 lead at the end of a quarter; however the Colonels responded with a 14-8 second quarter to go into halftime tied up at 27-all.

A weak offensive performance in the third quarter, however, doomed the Colonels as they were outscored 21-11 — a 10-point differential. Cass was able to make up half that total in the final quarter but still lost by five points.

The Cougars sank 18 of 24 free throws on the evening, doubling the 9 free throws made by Cass, which took 18 shots at the charity line.

“We played them tough but came up short,” Cass head coach Greg Scott said. “Kadeem [Sutton] had a very solid game inside. Drew [McKaig] and Najae [Jackson] gave us a lot of effort and we got good play off the bench.”

He noted the Colonels were 23 out of 61 from the court while Chattahoochee went 22 out of 51.

“We had 10 more shots but we didn’t cash them in,” Scott said. “This region is a lot like last year in that a lot of teams can beat any other team on a given night. I think this coming region tournament we’re going to see a lot of exciting basketball played in our gym.”

The loss dropped Cass to 11-7 overall and 4-4 in Region 7-AAAA.

Scoring for Cass were Zeke Reed, 20; Sutton, 19; McKaig, 9; Jozelle Payne, 8; and Tony Mitchell, 4. Leading Chattahoochee were Trey Archanbeau, 19; Markus Terry, 17; and Jaron Blossomgame, a Clemson signee, 17.

Cass 64, Northwest Whitfield 56 (Friday)

Cass got into the flow early and that helped it overcome its customary low scoring third quarter and defeat Northwest Whitfield on Friday, 64-56.

The scores at the first three breaks were 17-12, 32-25, 38-39. Cass outscored Northwest 26-17 in the final quarter for the come-from-behind win.

“The kids played very well against Northwest,” coach Scott said. “We shot pretty well in the first half, hitting 13-of-27. Then we lived down to our MO in the third quarter, when we had 6 points. We recovered and had a big fourth quarter, when Jozelle had two big 3’s for us. We also did a good job of shooting free throws, hitting 8-of-12.”

He noted the victory moved Cass at least briefly above Northwest into fourth place in the region but is subject to change depending on how the Bruins did against Lambert on Saturday.

Scott said the Colonels are trying hard with every game.

“They know every game in the region is important and just about anybody can beat anybody else,” he said. 

Scoring for Cass were Sutton 9; Jackson 5; Mitchell, 14; McKaig, 2; Payne, 17; Zeke Reed, 17. Daniel Kobin lead Northwest scorers with 18 points. 

Cass next plays on Saturday, when it visits Forsyth Central. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.

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