Benton, KY— The motto for this year’s Bulldogs? Great teams beat other great teams.

The 4 hour drive to Marshall County to take on defending 3A state champion Madison Academy was filled with anticipation knowing they’d be facing a top recruit in the nation.

Pre-game hype can be scary.

“When we first looked at them they were huge,” said senior Justin Kelley. “We knew we were going to have our hands full. But we also go into every game thinking we are going to win.”

And they did just that. The Bulldogs defeated the Mustangs 76-62. With a 32-15 lead at the end of the first quarter, they never looked back.

For the third game this season, Taveion Hollingsworth led all scorers with 33 points, shooting 9-for-20 from the field, 3-for-6 from three-point range and 12-for-17 from the free-throw line. 25 of these points came in the first half. Jordan Lewis also came up big with 15 points, and Darius Williams tacked on 13 points for the win on Saturday.

Did I mention Dunbar’s 6-1  point guard Jordan Lewis did this?

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFjXTPaFdpM[/embedyt]

Madison Academy (5-2), who is known for being a perennial basketball powerhouse, has been to Alabama’s Class 3A state semifinals nine of the past ten seasons, with five state championships.

Michigan State signee Joshua Langford’s 32 points wasn’t enough to outdo the stout defense of Paul Dunbar (3-0). The supporting cast of Langford was rather skimpy. 6-7 guard Myles Parker and senior guard Will Acuff only combined for a sheer 16 points, while junior Isaac Tillman added just 7 points in the defeat.

Senior Justin Kelley had the most demanding job of the night-guarding Langford.

“He was way stronger. He had 40 pounds on me. But I held my ground and forced difficult shots, “ said Kelley. Langford, who totaled 32 points, had three fouls in the first half, in addition to having only five points in the first quarter and 12 points at the break.

Hollingsworth has totaled 89 points through 3 games, averaging an eye-opening 29.7 ppg and 7.3 rpg. Granted he is only a junior, he finally got the well-deserved national spotlight at Hoop Fest this past weekend, acquiring his first offer from Eastern Kentucky just hours after his 33 point outing. He also heard from Northern Kentucky and Morehead State after the game.

National recruiters and journalists from Rivals.com, Scout.com, and 247Sports encircled Hollingsworth on the court minutes after leading his team to the win.

Scout.com’s Evan Daniels wrote, “I was really impressed with his ability to score,” “He has a knack for scoring. … He has long arms. He was pretty quick. He scored in a variety of ways. He knocked down jump shots, he hit mid-range pullups, floaters, got to the rim.”

This won’t be the only tough game for the Bulldogs. Dunbar’s coach Scott Chalk believes his team has the hardest schedule in the state.

“We tried to play everybody we could play. I know we have the toughest schedule we could possibly come up with,” said Chalk.

This includes traveling to top prospect Quentin Goodin’s #1 ranked Taylor County on February 13, 2016, in addition to other tough region 11 match-ups, and high quality out of state competition.

When asked about the first district game on Tuesday, Kelley instantly replied. “We are going to beat them just as bad as all of the other teams we’ve played.”

The team will travel to Lafayette (2-0) for their first district match-up on Tuesday at 8:00 P.M.

Paul Dunbar (Ky.) 76, Madison Academy (Al.) 62

PAUL DUNBAR (3-0) — Hollingsworth 33, Lewis 15, Williams 13, D. Brown 4,  Kelley 5.

MADISON ACADEMY (5-2) — Langford 32, Myles 8, Tillman 7, Fulkerson 2. C. Walker 2, Troxell 1.

Dunbar: 32 17 20 7—76

Madison Academy: 15 18 15 14—62