During a dominant run highlighted by five state tournament berths in eight years and three state championships in the past four seasons, Dunbar’s boys basketball team has featured a revolving door of offensive stars — including two eventual NBA players in Daequan Cook and Norris Cole. That star power, their coach believes, has sometimes obscured the Wolverines success on the defensive end.

But for the first time in years, the Wolverines boast no such dominant scorer. So this post-season, they’re relying heavily on stifling defense and a balanced offense — a formula that worked to perfection Monday night at Trent Arena, as Dunbar dispatched Chaminade Julienne, 60-43, advancing to a Southwest District Division II semifinal meeting with Franklin on Thursday.

Dunbar (18-6) built a quick lead by limiting CJ to one field goal in the first seven minutes, got double-digit scoring from four different players and was never threatened.

“We’ve always relied on defense, but people overlooked that,” Dunbar coach Pete Pullen said. “We don’t have the scorers. Last year we had three or four guys that could get 20 points in a game. But nobody is really overlooking us.”

Dunbar guard William Green (team-high 16 points) is a perfect example of the transition the Wolverines have undergone after finishing undefeated last year. A junior who barely left the bench last season, he’s now a primary scoring threat.

“We hear them say we lost a lot of key guys, but we’ve just got to fill the roles,” Green said.

Sophomore point guard A.J. Harris (10 points, six assists), senior center Damarion Geter (11 points, six blocks) and sophomore guard Doriane Dawson (14 points) repeatedly got into the lane for baskets against CJ, which missed a handful of point-blank shots early and couldn’t recover.

“We probably had 20 shots we didn’t finish,” Eagles coach Joe Staley said.

Dunbar pressured CJ (9-14) into a fair share of those misses, though, and will need to produce a similarly stingy effort against Franklin. The second-seeded Wildcats (19-3), led by sophomore Luke Kennard (27.7 points per game), have lost to just one in-state opponent this season.

“It’ll be a team effort. He’s going to get shots and opportunities, but we’ve got to make him work to get it,” Pullen said of Kennard.

Harris, meantime, said the team is savoring its new-found role as underdogs.

“Everybody’s thinking we’re not going back (to states),” he said. “We’re going back and we’re going to win it.”