Jennings County’s Carter Kent drives through Columbus North defenders at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024.
Nicholas Shaw | For The Republic
Jennings County brought its aerial attack to Columbus North on Tuesday night, and the Panthers were on target more often than not.
The Panthers hit a season-high 18 3-pointers in 34 attempts and broke open a close game in the second half to pull away for a 78-58 victory.
“We’ve been shooting the ball OK here lately,” Jennings coach Rob Kent said. “We don’t see a lot of zones. We just had some guys step up and knock them down.”
Kent’s son Carter went 5 of 6 from beyond the arc and led all scorers with 28 points. Cole Sigler hit 7 3-pointers to score 21 points.
“We love to shoot from 3,” Sigler said. “It’s a great night when it goes in. Normally, it leads to success.”
“Cole was hitting tonight,” Carter Kent added. “Cole is a really good passer, too. He knows how to get it to the next man. Cole finds a way to get us the ball, and we did the same. Everybody was hitting shots tonight, so it was good.”
Cash Millspaugh with three 3s for nine points, Dorian Hacker with a 3 and eight points and Ben Juraskovich with two 3s for six points also got in on the act, as well.
“We wanted to get our 5, 6 and 7 guys going a little bit,” Rob Kent said. “We got a lot of activity out of them tonight.”
The Bull Dogs (4-8) led 17-12 in the final minute of the first quarter when the Panthers (7-9) took control. Jennings went on a 10-0 run and never trailed again.
North was within 42-37 midway through the third quarter, but Sigler hit back-to-back 3s, to push the lead to double figures, and it grew from there.
“They scored in bunches, and they made a lot of big shots in the second half,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “We were just very inconsistent defensively in the second half. We had some things that we had talked about doing and had done well in the first half that we didn’t do in the second half, and it really cost us.”
Hacker grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Panthers to a 30-23 advantage on the boards.
“Like I was talking to coach Ferguson, we’re on a little bit of a roller coaster like they are right now,” Rob Kent said.
Garrett Long led the Bull Dogs with 19 points and six rebounds. Nolan Pickup scored 11 points, Max Coomes had 10 points and Nate Enneking added eight points.
“We’re an inexperienced team at times, and that caught up to us,” Ferguson said. “We played inconsistently the second half, and it hurt us. But we’ll learn and grow from it. We’ll be better next time.”
Jennings County 78, Columbus North 58
Jennings County;14;20;22;22;—;78
Columbus North;17;12;15;14;—;58
Jennings County (7-9): Will Barnes 2 0-0 4, Cash Millspaugh 3 0-0 9, Carter Kent 9 5-5 28, Dorian Hacker 2 3-4 8, Jeremiah Davis 0 0-0 0, Ben Jurasovich 2 0-0 6, Cole Sigler 7 0-0 21, Jackson Earl 0 0-0 0, Luke Alexander 0 0-0 0, Austin Byford 0 2-2 2. Totals: 25 10-11 78.
Columbus North (4-8): Judah Lewis 2 0-0 5, Caleb Ferguson 2 1-2 5, Nate Enneking 4 0-0 8, Max Coomes 3 1-2 10, Nolan Pickup 5 0-0 11, Ben Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Drew Schiefer 0 0-0 0, Garrett Long 7 5-8 19. Totals: 23 7-12 58.
3-point goals: Jennings County 18 (Sigler 7, Kent 5, Millspaugh 3, Juraskovich 2, Hacker); Columbus North 5 (Coomes 3, Lewis, Pickup).
