The highlight of the day – Bowling Green vs. Paul Laurence Dunbar – was the fourth game of the State Farm Shootout at South Warren High School but was the most anticipated one of them all.
Dunbar, from Lexington, made the trip to Bowling Green with Kentucky Mr. Basketball favorite, McDonald’s All-American nominee and Western Kentucky signee Taveion Hollingworth to Spartan Gym, which grew a number of Hilltopper fans. Bowling Green, riding a seven-game winning streak, had plenty of momentum heading into the game.
In a rematch of last year’s Sweet Sixteen matchup at Rupp Arena, the two sides battled from start to finish, but the Purples prevailed, winning 75-58 in front of a packed house.
Terry Taylor dropped 23 points and grabbed 16 rebounds and DeAngelo Wilson scored 24 while Zion Harmon had 14. In their loss, the Bulldogs’ were led by Taveion Hollingsworth, who scored 25 points.
The Purples (15-2) return to action on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Christian County.
Both sides came out of the gates ready to play.
Hollingsworth hit two early three-pointers and Taylor scored down low multiple times early as Bowling Green led 20-18 over Paul Laurence Dunbar after one quarter. Hollingsworth already had 10 points. Throughout the ensuing eight minutes, the Purples would jump ahead and have a 29-20 advantage, but the Bulldogs would fight back and only trail by five at halftime, as the scoreboard read 36-31.
At the break, Taylor already had 18 points and 8 rebounds to lead Bowling Green while Hollingsworth paced Dunbar with 16 points of his own.
Bowling Green would do more than Dunbar throughout the remainder of the contest.
With :41.1 remaining in the third, the Purples were on a 10-0 run and led by 16 points over the Bulldogs, 56-41. Dunbar hadn’t scored in over two minutes and couldn’t seem to get anything going on either side of the ball. Wilson added to the scoreboard with another bucket under the basket for BG just before the end of the period, who held a 58-41 advantage heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth, the Purples would continue to control the flow of the affair, as they got their revenge on Paul Laurence Dunbar.
