WKU signee Taveion Hollingsworth joined an exclusive list of the state’s elite Tuesday, as the guard was named 2017 Kentucky Mr. Basketball.
Hollingsworth received the award – given to the state’s top senior – from the Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation during a ceremony Tuesday night in Lexington.
He won over 19 other finalists, including Pedro Bradshaw of Russellville, Tavin Lovan of Franklin-Simpson and Terry Taylor of Bowling Green.
Hollingsworth, a 6-foot-2 guard out of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, is the sixth Kentucky Mr. Basketball in WKU history and the first since Elizabethtown’s Steffphon Pettigrew in 2007.
Hollingsworth, who signed a letter of intent with the Hilltoppers in November, is a consensus three-star recruit across all outlets and was considered a front-runner for the Mr. Basketball award all season.
He led Dunbar to a 21-9 record this year as a senior, averaging 28.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He shot 55.1 percent from the field and 75.9 percent from the free-throw line.
Hollingsworth finished his career as the all-time leading scorer in Lexington boys’ basketball history with 2,495 career points. Before being named Mr. Basketball, he was selected as the 11th Region Player of the Year.
Hollingsworth was named the KHSAA Sweet 16 MVP last year while leading Dunbar to a 33-6 record and its first state title as a junior.
Hollingsworth played 124 of 128 possible minutes during the state tournament and averaged 21 points and 5.4 rebounds per game as a junior. He shot 53.1 percent from the field and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Hollingsworth is just WKU’s second Kentucky Mr. Basketball in the last 32 years. The other previous Hilltopper winners, along with Pettigrew, are Steve Miller in 1984, Terry Davis in 1968, Jim McDaniels in 1967 and Harry Todd in 1958.