Jennings County’s Carter Kent, left, posts up for a shot against Columbus East’s Anthony Cowan, right, Friday at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Feb. 9, 2024
Nicholas Shaw | For The Republic
No matter what defense Columbus East threw at Carter Kent, the Jennings County junior couldn’t be stopped.
Kent poured in a game-high 44 points in leading the charge to help the Panthers to a 70-64 Hoosier Hills Conference boys basketball victory in the Orange Pit Friday night.
Kent, known for his 3-point shooting, hit only four 3-pointers in the game with the defense tight on him all night. But he hit 10 2-pointers and was 12 of 14 from the free-throw line.
“We’ve been trying to get Carter moving to the goal a little bit more to distribute the ball a little bit, and they really didn’t pick him up a few times,” Jennings coach Rob Kent said. “I thought he forced a few shots tonight, but we’ll take care of that… We’re looking at getting more stuff moving at the basket and getting our big guys involved. I don’t want to say East didn’t do a great job at taking away the paint on him, it just looked like it was open there a few times.”
It was Anthony Cowan, Ethan Bumbalough and Alex Duncan rotating on defense for East in trying to contain Carter Kent. While the Olympian defense limited Kent to hitting one 3-pointer in the first half, he was able to drive to basket to some layups. East was without Keaton Lawson after picking up two quick fouls in the opening quarter.
The Panthers (10-9, 2-2) led 21-17 after the first quarter and extended the lead to 24-17 following a three-point play from Kent. The Olympians (5-15, 0-5) stayed in the game, thanks to some excellent 3-point shooting. They connected on five 3-pointers in the second quarter. East took the lead with under a minute left with a couple baskets inside from Carter Patterson to make it 38-35 at the half.
The Olympians grew the lead to 52-46, but the Panthers came back with an 8-0 run to finish the quarter, leading 54-52 heading into the fourth.
Jennings led 61-54 in the fourth quarter until East went on a 10-0 run following back-to-back 3s from Jackson Fischvogt to lead 64-61. The Panthers, particularly, Carter Kent, scored the final nine points to seal the win.
(Carter Kent’s) challenging. He’s a great, great player, East coach Perry Nash said. “I think Alex and Anthony and Ethan did a great job trying to wear him out because he is one of the best set-shooters I’ve ever seen. A lot of times, you think he got an easy layup, but the problem is you have to guard him once you pass half-court. I thought we were trying to make it tough on him. He’s a great player, and that’s what great players do, they make great plays.”
The Olympians have played well over their past three games, despite only winning one of them. Nash said the team is right there, but hasn’t been able to turn the corner.
“I think we can compete with anybody, and before we competed with anybody, we had to come from behind,” Nash said. “Now, we’re in the game. They had the lead, we had the lead, we’re just battling. I’m proud of the guys. It’s frustrating for them, it’s frustrating for me, we just got to turn the corner. I’m proud of them for not giving up and just fighting every single moment of every single day.”
Along with Carter Kent’s game-high 44, Cole Sigler added 17 points on five 3-pointers.
“(Sigler) stood up and hit a bunch of big shots for us,” Rob Kent said. “Our last few games, we’ve been better defensively, but I don’t think we defended really well tonight.”
Fischvogt led the Olympians with 19 points. Patterson finished with 14 and Daniel Coriden added 11.
“These last three games, we’ve shot the ball really well,” Fischvogt said. “Everybody is coming in in the morning and getting some shots up before school, and just carrying that on through the season, I’m excited.”
Jennings County 70, Columbus East 64
Jennings County;21;14;19;16;—;70
Columbus East;17;21;14;12;—;64
Jennings County (10-9, 2-2): Will Barnes 0 2-2 2, Cash Millspaugh 0 1-2 1, Carter Kent 14 12-14 44, Dorian Hacker 1 2-2 4, Cole Sigler 5 2-2 17, Austin Byford 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 19-22 70.
Columbus East (5-15, 0-5): Mason Reeves 3 0-0 8, Anthony Cowan 2 0-0 4, Jackson Fischvogt 6 1-2 19, Daniel Coriden 4 0-0 11, Ethan Bumbalough 1 0-0 2, Keaton Lawson 1 0-0 2, Alex Duncan 2 0-0 4, Carter Patterson 6 2-3 14. Totals: 23 3-5 64.
3-point goals: Jennings County 9 (Sigler 5, Kent 4); Columbus East 11 (Fischvogt 6, Coriden 3, Reeves 2).
