MACON — Many people said it was a mismatch. It looked that way, but not quite how they thought.

Carver-Columbus led from start to finish, starting with a 3-pointer on the opening possession and finishing with relative ease, as the unranked Tigers upset No. 3 Dunwoody 96-89 in the Class AAA semifinals. Carver led by as many as 19 points midway through the fourth quarter.

The victory earns Carver its first state finals appearance since the Tigers' 1971 state championship, when they defeated Savannah 52-51.

The Wildcats (27-4) were the highest-ranked team remaining in the AAA bracket, but they never made a serious run at Carver (22-9) after the first quarter. Their last chance went by the boards early in the fourth quarter when, after cutting the lead to 9, Carver got a technical foul that helped the Tigers put together a 7-point possession that stretched the lead back out to 16.

With much of the Carver team in foul trouble, including talented senior point guard Jarmon Fortson, Jarvis Jones took over. He scored 22 of his game-high 28 in the second half, playing hard under the basket.

Carver dominated Dunwoody with a fast-paced style that disrupted the Cats on both ends of the floor. Issiah Grayson was the only Dunwoody player who shot the ball well, hitting six 3-pointers in the second half to tie for game-high honors with 28 points. Pierre Jordan had 20, but both Delwan Graham and All-American Chris Singleton struggled to score points; the senior duo combined for just 22 points and nine rebounds.

Though Dunwoody never led or even tied the Tigers, the game stayed fairly close until late in the third quarter, when Carver pushed its lead out to 68-55 to end the quarter, and the lead never shrunk to fewer than 7 the rest of the way.

When Dunwoody tried to make one last push at the end - cutting a 19-point Carver lead to 7 - the Wildcats did so without Singleton, who was in foul trouble most of the game and got his fifth with 5:22 left in the game to end his night.