An Indiana high school basketball story about family, 3-pointers, underdogs and 'Hoosiers'

NORTH VERNON – Bob Kent would love these Jennings County Panthers.

Who wouldn’t? This team, even in the state’s largest class in 4A, represents the quintessential underdog story high school basketball fans have come to love over the decades. It is a program that had not won a sectional in 18 years. Arguably the biggest headline to come from Jennings County basketball in recent years came in 2018 when New Albany legend Romeo Langford visited.

He dropped 63 points, signed some autographs and barely broke a sweat.

But this year is different. The once-proud program can puff its chest again about these kids in the red, blue and white, shooting 3-pointers and rallying for impossible comeback wins.

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Down 12 points with barely three minutes left against Bedford North Lawrence in the first round of sectional? No problem.

Down eight points with two minutes left in overtime in the same game? Never a doubt.

A 15-point halftime deficit against Jeffersonville in the sectional semifinal? Child’s play.

Bob Kent would love all of this, of course, because he was a Jennings County fan. He would sit in the first row of bleachers on the end of the court at home games with one instruction for Jennings County players: “Shoot the ball!”

Two of the kids out there starting for Jennings County, senior guard Keegan Manowitz and sophomore guard Carter Kent, are Bob Kent’s grandsons. But “all of the kids were his kids,” said Carrie Manowitz, Bob’s oldest daughter and Keegan’s mother. “Those kids meant everything to him, every single one of them, not just his grandsons.”

Bob Kent’s last words to his son, Rob, was he wanted one more year to watch this team play. He didn’t get the chance. Suffering from failing kidneys caused by diabetes, Bob died at age 74 on Oct 20, about a month before the start of the season.

“We’re all missing him,” Carrie said. “It’s been an emotional year in a lot of ways.”

Jennings County (24-2) is a regional champion for the first time since 1998 and second time in program history. That team, 25 years ago, was led by Rob Kent, an Indiana All-Star who went on play at the University of Indianapolis. He scored 18 points in the first quarter of that morning semistate game against Lawrence Central at Assembly Hall on an array of jumpers, 3-pointers and drives, but sprained his ankle early in the second quarter, tried to return, but was not the same in a 60-56 loss.

“I came back, but I wasn’t full force,” said Rob, now an assistant to Josh Land on the Jennings County coach staff. “I probably would have been better on the bench after that.”

There are similarities from this team to that one a quarter century ago, connections tied by blood and eerie coincidence. There is also a tie from this underdog story to Jimmy Chitwood and the famous underdog movie “Hoosiers” inspired by Bobby Plump and the 1954 Milan team, and the man who would sit at the end of the gym at Jennings County and implore players to “Shoot!”

***

Shoot. Yes, that’s what they do here at Jennings County. The Panthers have attempted 649 shots behind the 3-point line this season, representing 50.3% of the shots taken overall.

“We’ve always played this style,” Keegan Manowitz said. “Run and gun, shoot a lot of 3s. I think we all kind of know what we’re going to do. When someone shoots it, we’ll crash the boards and if they miss we’ll get it back, pass it out and shoot another one.”

They play that way because they always have. Rob Kent coached this group of seniors since they were early in elementary school, bringing up Carter two years to play with them and Cole Sigler, a junior, up one year. Rob was a guard, a confident guard, who liked to shoot and could knock them down.

Land came to Jennings County as an assistant out of UIndy 16 years ago. He watched Rob coach this group as an assistant and then when he became the head coach seven years ago.

“I’ve known their families forever now,” said Land, who is a native of Hope and graduated from Hauser. “I remember seeing Keegan running around on the baseball field when he was 3. His dad, Pete, was in my wedding and so was Rob. So I saw Rob coach them as they grew up and saw how successful they were. They went and played the best competition around. We went through some growing pains when that class got to high school, but going into the last offseason, I knew it was going to be something special.”

After seasons of 14-12, 12-11 and 14-9, it might have been difficult to see a major breakthrough coming from the outside looking in. But Land and the players saw it coming. The Panthers started 11-0 with the 11^th win coming in front of a packed house at Brownstown Central, 78-69. The following night, a big home crowd watched a 68-66 loss to a Center Grove team that was ranked No. 4 in the final state poll.

Even in defeat, there were a whole lot of believers after that weekend.

“I think that showed everyone we could compete,” Carter Kent said. “Keegan was in foul trouble that whole (Center Grove) game. I think if we had him, we probably would have won.”

The 5-11 Kent (14.6 ppg, 2.9 assists) and the 5-8 Manowitz (14.4 ppg, 6.3 assists) are the team’s top two scorers and 3-point shooters. Manowitz hits 41% from the 3-pointers and Kent shoots at a 39% clip. Overall, the Panthers are a 37% shooting team from beyond the arc. Owen Law (11.3 ppg, 3.5 rebounds), a 6-3 senior, 6-7 senior Justin Ramey (7.7 ppg, 4.3 rebounds), 6-5 freshman Parker Elmore (5.6 ppg, 4.4 rebounds) and 6-3 senior Lane Zohrlaut (7.4 ppg, 4.9 rebounds) are others in the main rotation.

Everyone on the court can — and will — shoot the 3.

“It’s a close team,” Land said. “Keegan and Carter are best friends from really close families and you can see that on the court. It’s kind of indescribable. I’ve never had a pair of players like that who know where each other are at. They trust each other.”

Even in a dire situation. Like against BNL and Jeffersonville in sectionals.

“These guys have some fight in them,” Rob Kent said. “I think they’ve proven that with these comeback wins. We didn’t make it that interesting in ’98.”

But there are some similarities to that season, too. This year’s team went through BNL, Jeffersonville and New Albany in the sectional and Evansville Reitz in the regional. The 1998 team beat Jeffersonville, BNL and New Albany in the sectional and Evansville North in the regional.

In 1998, the winner of Lawrence Central-Jennings County in the early semistate game had a dominant Pike team awaiting them at night. This year, No. 1 Ben Davis (30-0) could be awaiting the Brownsburg-Jennings County winner on Saturday night.

“They beat the same three teams in the sectional we did my senior year,” Rob said. “In the regional, we were up 16 points at halftime against an Evansville team. They were up 17. There are a lot of comparisons.”

Bob Kent loved both teams.

***

Carrie, the oldest of the four children to Bob and Mary Jo (Carrie, Kelly, Rob and Baron), remembers watching the 1987 Indiana-Syracuse national championship game on television with her father.

“We’re all cheering,” she remembered. “My mom was in bed and she was annoyed with us.”

Carrie went on to be a standout player herself on three Jennings County girls teams that won regional championships in 1990, ’92, and ’93. Those remain the only regional titles in the program’s history.

“From the youngest age, dad had us out in the yard playing softball or basketball,” she said. “We had a mini-goal in the basement. That was always our connection. I remember him taking me to watch random teams during the tournament. The high school tournament always had a lot of importance to him.”

The kids always heard the stories from Bob about his playing days, too. Bob did not lack for confidence.

“He would say he would shoot as soon as he got in the gym,” Carrie said. “He said he would have the record for 3s. Robbie gets (his confidence) honestly.”

Bob did have a real-life “Hoosiers” story of his own. Kent played at tiny Unionville and in 1966, the Arrows upset much larger Bloomington 69-68 to win the sectional as Kent scored 20 points. In the gym that night was Bloomington native Angelo Pizzo, a friend of Bob Kent’s going back to grade school. That game and atmosphere, small school vs. large school, had an influence on Pizzo’s “Hoosiers” movie.

At Bob’s funeral in October, the Kent family heard some of the stories he had shared over the years from his teammates. He walked on at Indiana, but left after two years to start farming.

“They told us how good he was,” Carrie said. “They gave the same stories he did. He wasn’t lying. He played the same way Robbie and Carter and this team does. It’s a fun style to watch.”

Bob Kent would certainly love it. But even if he’s not here to show it physically, Jennings County can feel the love from its community, which is showing out in droves to support the Panthers.

“People here appreciate good basketball,” Rob Kent said. “I’m glad these guys have been able to experience that.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball: Underdog Jennings County shoots way into semistate