DCHS Tiger Head Basketball coach Lynus Martin is beginning his fifteenth year at the helm of the team. He sat down with the Review last week to discuss the upcoming season.

Martin said competition in the district will be fierce this year, but that he has a good team returning.

“The district is loaded,” Martin told the Review. The good thing for us is that we have our top eight players back. We lost Noah Parsley, a big presence on the court for us last year, but the thing we’ve got going for us this year is experience. We’ve got a lot of kids with a lot of playing time. We fought through a lot of adversity last year with a lot of younger guys on the floor.”

He said the team has a good mix of young and more experienced players, and that while the team needs to improve on some aspects of the game, he expects good things from the team this year in a tough district.

“Out of our top eight players this year we have two seniors, four juniors, a sophomore and a freshman, so we’ve got a good mix,” the coach shared. “The district is pretty top heavy. We have the same four teams as always, Macon and Upperman as probably our biggest threats, with Smith and Livingston hanging close. York and Central Magnet round things out, and we are right there in the mix. I feel like we have a great chance to do some good things this year, but the thing that has to change is we’ve got to score. We’ve got to make open shots, and that was a problem last year, and that’s something that has to happen if you’re going to win games. We have the potential to have two or three kids scoring 12-15 pints a game. I don’t think we have a 20-point scorer, but we have a good balance. We defended well last year, we rebounded pretty well, but we just couldn’t score a lick. We’ve been working hard on that, and were getting better. I know it’s an old cliché that if you put the ball in the basket you win, but that’s something you have to be able to do.”

The coach said the team has competent players from all four classes.

“We have three kids that I would say are our go-to guys,” Martin said. “I expect good things from Senior Gentry Harpole, Junior Marshall Evans and Tanner Poss, a sophomore. Those three were our leaders last year, and they’re all back, and we expect them to elevate their games and be more consistent. You can’t have a twelve point night and then two-point night. Junior Trey Jones has the opportunity to produce, and so does sophomore Colter Norris. Senior Chandler Vincent is back this year, and he and Junior Austin Johnson should be capable of coming off the bench and making things happen. Freshman Michael Elswick has a chance to do great things as well.”

Martin said that while the schedule is tough, he feels that the Tigers have the opportunity to excel.

“We go to Watertown on the 19th. That’s a tough one to jump into, they are picked near the top of their district, they are athletic, talented, and they probably have the best team they’ve had since I’ve been here, so we’ll find out where we’re at real quick. Our first regular season game is against Trousdale, and they are as athletic as anybody, then we go to Gordonsville, and they have every kid back and had a great team last year. We’re going to have some competition in the first three games. The schedule is tough this year, and it’s going to be a dogfight every night to win. There aren’t any games where you can’t show up ready to play, so were going to have to stay focused.”

Martin is beginning his fifteenth season coaching the team, with the first two serving as assistant to Head Coach Danny Bond. He took over after Bond resigned in 2003. He begins the 2016-17 season with a 256-169 record, and is set to surpass Bond’s record of 256-220 in his 17-year career with the Lady Tigers.

“To be able to be here that long and to be blessed to do what I love doing is remarkable,” the coach said. “I never thought I’d be here for that many games, and I owe a big thanks to Danny Bond. He hired me, and trusted me enough to have me on his staff, and he’s the reason I’m here today, and I couldn’t have done it without him.”

The Tiger basketball season opens Friday night, with DeKalb facing the Chattanooga Patriots in Smithville at 5 p.m. The Hall of Fame game in Watertown will be held on Saturday, and DeKalb will travel to Trousdale County on Monday, and will play in the Cannon County Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 25-26 in Woodbury.