SEYMOUR — This time, there was no drama.
Class 4A No. 9 Jennings County, which had to mount huge comebacks in its first two sectional games, led almost wire-to-wire in Monday night’s title game. The Panthers’ 51-39 win against New Albany gave them their first sectional championship since 2005.
“Those last two games were more of a grind-it-out-from-the-get-go,” Jennings county coach Josh Land said. “I know tonight wasn’t super high-scoring, but I thought we were able to get some stops and push the ball.”
Fans, mostly dressed in blue, were lined up hundreds deep to get into Seymour’s Lloyd Scott Gymnasium a half-hour before doors opened a hour before the 7 p.m. tipoff. They filled an entire side and parts of the ends of the 8,000-plus seat venue.
The Panthers (23-2) trailed 2-0, but for only 7 seconds. The game was tied at 11 after one quarter, but Jennings scored the first seven points of the second quarter and never looked back.
Lane Zohrlaut
“It’s a lot better to play from ahead than to play from behind,” said senior Lane Zohrlaut, who scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
“We played with the lead tonight,” added sophomore Carter Kent, who led all scorers with 22 points. “We talked about it a lot. We handled the ball a little bit better and passed the ball well and took care of it.”
Carter Kent
With senior point guard and leading scorer Keegan Manowitz having an off night scoring-wise, Kent provided the punch from downtown. He hit four 3-pointers, three of which came in the first half.
With his first 3 of the night, Kent broke the single-season school record. He now has 75 this season.
“Keegan is a great facilitator, and someone our team gets hot every night, so he found the guy tonight, and it just happened to be me,” Kent said. “When we we hit shots, we’re not going to be beat.”
The Bulldogs (11-14) cut an 11-point deficit to 35-31 with 5:17 left in the game, but the Panthers went on an 8-3 run to gain some breathing room.
Jennings committed only six turnovers and forced 12 New Albany turnovers.
“I thought our focus was really good and our attention to the game plan,” Land said. “It was a quick turnaround from Saturday. I thought we did a good job speeding them up a little bit. I thought our traps were good. We were able to turn them over and get some stops and have better offense. We were able to get out in transition, and that freed us up for some more open looks.”
The Panthers will be back at Seymour on Saturday to play Evansville Reitz in the regional at 4 p.m. Columbus North faces Bloomington North at 7 p.m., and both winners advance to semistate.
The sectional title was the first as a head coach for Land, a Hauser graduate, and the first since before any of the current Jennings players were born.
“That’s what we talked about every single day,” Land said. “Since Floyd Central beat us in double-overtime (in the first round) last year, that’s our focus. We made sure that whatever we did, whether it’s practice or a film session or an offseason workout or a morning shooting workout, everything we did was getting to this point and finishing the job. The amount of work these kids have put into it, and the coaching staff has put into it, I’m just so proud of these kids to see their work pay off.”
Jennings County 51, New Albany 39
Jennings County;11;16;6;18;—;51
New Albany;11;8;5;15;—;39
Jennings County (23-2): Darius Thomas 1 0-0 2, Carter Kent 7 4-5 22, Lane Zohrlaut 4 2-2 10, Parker Elmore 2 0-0 4, Owen Law 2 0-0 5, Keegan Manowitz 1 1-2 4, Justin Ramey 2 0-0 4. Totals: 19 7-9 51.
New Albany (11-14): Josten Carter 2 0-0 4, Jeremy Rose 5 4-5 16, Jordan Treat 6 1-2 14, Rylan Schrink 1 1-1 3, Chris Lampkins 0 0-0 0, Kenny Watson 0 1-4 1, Chase Loesch 0 1-2 1. Totals: 14 8-14 39.
3-point goals: Jennings County 6 (Kent 4, Law, Manowitz); New Albany 3 (Rose 2, Treat).