VERSAILLES, KY–In the season opener held on Nov. 30, the Dunbar Bulldogs earned a commanding victory over the Woodford County Yellow Jackets (65-38).

Entering this season, Dunbar coach Scott Chalk had never beaten Woodford County; Monday night, he did just that.

Led by junior guard Taveion Hollingsworth’s 21 points, the Bulldogs were also supported by Jordan Lewis’ 16 and Vincent Clark’s 13 point exhibition. Dontell Brown added 8 points for the Bulldogs.

Dunbar kept Woodford County at bay, allowing only 18 first half points and a mere 38 points throughout the entire game. 6-4 senior Wesley Smith tallied a team high 10 points for the Yellow Jackets, while senior Ricky Auxien and junior Alex Karbach both added 6 points.

The #3 player in the state, senior forward Darius Williams, who averaged 22.4 ppg last season, sat out this game due to illness. Teammates say that he will be back in action for the upcoming Bryan Station game.

Although they missed the scoring prowess of Williams, senior Vincent Clark stepped in and contributed in place for Williams. Clark had 13 points, shooting 7-10 from the line, and clutched 2 three-pointers.

He made the impact the Bulldogs were looking for. “My teammates helped me get the ball. I kept making an effort to get to the free throw line,” Clark said. “Playing with guys like Jordan [Lewis] and Taveion [Hollingsworth], I’ll never be the main focus of another teams defense. I used that to my advantage.”

After the first win of the season, Clark is confident in this year’s group. “Tonight we started off the season the right way.  For the most part, we ran our offense the way we wanted, and we played well together on defense.”

The bulldogs next home game will be played against the Bryan Station Defenders on Dec. 3.

Paul Dunbar 65, Woodford Co. 38 

PAUL DUNBAR (1-0) — Hollingsworth 21, Lewis 16, Clark 13 , D. Brown 5,  Kelley 3,  J. Brown 2, Homer 2.

WOODFORD COUNTY  (0-1) — Smith 10, Karbach 6, Auxien 6,  Sly 5, Stewart 2, Stromberg 2, Cromwell 1.

Dunbar 20 16 15 14—65

Woodford County 8 10 6 14—38