Marysville High School’s varsity boys basketball team is pictured from left, front row, Nick Wever, Brandon Fourman, Leo Rausch, R.J. Thornton, Dayne Johnson, Chase Adkins and Lane Coil; back row, coaches Josh Weikart and Evan Will, Kade Focht, Ryker Bowden, Jason Moore, Connor Smith, Chase Allen, head coach Mark Tinklenberg and coach Erich DeChant. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
There has been a changing of the guard within the Marysville High School boys basketball program.
Mark Tinklenberg, who formerly served as an assistant coach at Dublin Coffman, has taken over for Ryan Grose.
Grose, who is now an assistant coach at Jonathan Alder, stepped down from the Monarch position last spring after 11 seasons.
The Monarchs finished the 2020-21 campaign with an overall record of 14-8.
They finished third in the Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division.
Jack Christian and Garrett Taylor, the top scorers from last winter, graduated.
The top returning scorers for the current team are 6-7 sophomore Jason Moore (six points per game) and Kade Focht, a 6-2 senior who averaged 3.5 points per contest.
Additional lettermen are Chase Allen, Dane Johnson, Brandon Foreman and Lane Coil.
Newcomers to the varsity are Nick Wever, R.J. Thornton, Connor Smith and Ryker Bowden.
Tinklenberg said the Monarchs’ offense is going to go from the inside-out.
MHS is going to want to get the ball inside to Moore, who figures to be among the team’s top scorers.
Another facet of the game will be to get the ball to outside shooters such as Weaver and Focht.
“We are continuing to improve on our outside shooting,” said Tinklenberg.
The new coach’s main concern is the overall lack of varsity playing experience among the team.
“Playing varsity ball is different from other levels,” he said. “The game is faster, the coaching is different and there is a lot more game planning.
“You have to have guys who are willing to step up to the varsity level.”
With the team’s inexperience, Tinklenberg said the Monarchs must intensely focus on the defensive end of the floor.
“We will have to be great defensively since we are inexperienced,” he said. “We are going to play man-to-man, take charges and force people into spots they don’t want to be.
“We are going to have to be a defensive-minded team that grinds out victories.”
The MHS offense will be transitional with the main design in getting the ball to Moore around the basket.
However, Tinklenberg hopes the 6-7 sophomore isn’t the only scoring threat.
“We are going to have ball screens out of the transition,” he said. “We can’t rely on one or two guys doing the scoring.
“We will need all five guys on the floor be able to make defensive reads and shoot the ball.”
Marysville will also have to pound the boards and eliminate giving opponents second and third-shot opportunities.
“We will have to be physical with our rebounding,” said Tinklenberg.
The new coach feels Thornton, a 6-5 senior who is playing high school hoops for the first time, and the 6-5 Smith will help Moore around the basket.
“Connor has something like a 36-inch vertical leap,” said the coach. “We’ve got to keep him around the rim.”
Tinklenberg said Dublin Jerome will be among the top teams in the OCC’s Cardinal Division.
He also noted Hilliard Darby will have one of its best teams in the past five or six years and the team from Olentangy Berlin has an added year of experience.
“We overlooked Berlin last year in the tournament when I was at Coffman and they almost beat us,” said Tinklenberg. “We’re not going to make the mistake of overlooking them when playing them in conference games this year.”
The Monarch bench boss said he wants to build the team toward big success by the middle of February.
“We’re preparing to try to win every game,” said Tinklenberg. “However, our main focus is to get the team to a very good level by the middle of February.
“Victories in early December are nice, but we want to build with a long-term vision of competing for a divisional title in the OCC and preparing for a long Division I tournament run.
“We are not going to be able to overlook anyone on our schedule,” he said. “However, if we can stay healthy and play to a top level, I can see us competing for one of the top positions in the division.”