Wolverines junior Justyce Taylor had 14 points and senior Jace Allen added 13 as Dunbar routed Lebanon 60-37 at the 22nd Annual The Beacon Orthopaedics Flyin’ to the Hoop Invitational on Saturday at Trent Arena in Kettering.
The Wolverines have won three straight games at the annual high school basketball showcase, ranked the No. 2 national event by CBS Sports/MaxPreps. They beat Columbus Walnut Ridge last season and Pickerington North in 2023.
After starting the season 4-6, the Wolverines have won four of their last five games.
“We’ve been playing some good basketball,” Dixon, Jr. said. “We started off the season rocky. That’s what you’ll have when you have a tough schedule, one of the toughest schedules around. As a unit, I think we’re turning the corner and playing more collectively as a team.”
Warriors senior Matt Weber scored a game-high 20 points and freshman Jashawn Coffey added 12 as Lebanon fell to 6-6 overall.
The Wolverines jumped out to an 32-23 halftime lead, shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half. They increased the lead to 15 points on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Kevin Jackson with about two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Lebanon wouldn’t get any closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
The Wolverines outrebounded the Warriors 39-25 and scored 20 second chance points.
“We played some great defense and rebounded the ball well,” Dixon said. “Those are the two keys to win games and we did that. That’s what we wanted to do. We knew we were bigger than them, but we knew they were going to come out and play hard, control the rebounds and play some solid defense.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Wolverines. They travel to Chaminade-Julienne on Tuesday before facing Meadowdale in a key City League game on Friday night.
“(CJ coach Charlie Szabo) is going to bring his best effort, so we have to come out and play hard,” Dixon said. “It doesn’t get any easier … We’re right where we want to be. We just have to keep getting better every day.”
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