By Kary Booher
When you listen to Terry Writer talk about his Mansfield High School boys basketball team, it’s easy to imagine the veteran coach sitting on a front porch swing in summer time, sipping Lemonade and cautioning about the dangers of assuming success.
Sure, some coaches might boast about returning a ton of talent from a team that reached the Class 2 sectionals and finished 21-8. However, Writer has been down this road before in his 36 years of coaching, including 14 in Mansfield.
“We’ve got a lot of experience back, but that doesn’t assume you are going to be successful,” Writer said. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
He later added, “We’re going to compete, but you’ve got Hartville, who won the state championship, in the conference. We could be better and not win as many games.”
Fortunately for Writer and Mansfield fans, the coach senses the Lions are eager to prove themselves again months after winning a Class 2 district championship but suffering a loss to Hartville in the sectionals, 47-37.
His optimism is rooted in the fact that the team returns four starters, three others who saw playing time and a crop of other contributors who go nine deep.
The returning starters are senior point guard Mason Roy, senior guard Jonah Williams, 6-foot-9 sophomore center/forward Dylan Caruso and 6-4 junior center Trenton Emerick. Roy and Williams are three-year starters, and Roy and Caruso were first team All-Summit League last year as well as all-district.
“Roy has developed into a solid basketball player,” Writer said of a player who averaged 12.6 points a game last season. “He’s got good quickness and is a pretty good ball-handler. And he’s one of our best defenders, if not the best.”
Williamson may be undersized for a shooting guard, but he set the program’s single-season record for 3-pointers last year with 76. He averaged 10 points a game.
“When he’s hot, he’s really hot,” Writer said. “When he’s not, he’s going to keep shooting until he gets hot.”
Caruso was a beast late last season. He averaged 12.6 points and 3.3 blocks, but brought the thunder in the postseason. He had eight blocks in the second half of the district championship victory against Bakersfield. Since then, he joined a summer AAU team.
“He’s got a lot of tools. He just needs to get stronger,” Writer said. “And I think playing AAU will give him some confidence that he can play against better people.”
Look, too, for sophomore Payton Watterson, a 5-11 guard who saw time late last season after being a standout on JV.
Mansfield could be formidable in the low blocks. Emerick averaged 4.4 points and 3.8 rebounds last season, and the team anticipates junior Michael Tate – a 6-foot-6 forward/center – working into the rotation.
“He’s really improved a lot,” Writer said of Tate. “He didn’t play much when he was young. But he’s worked hard this offseason.”
Three returning players are junior Spencer Greene, senior Sean Neal and sophomore Bret Berry. Other notables are senior Layne Brengle, juniors Jordan Evans, Jacob Gray, Kionte Baker, sophomore Kevron Baker, sophomore Britt Keith and sophomore Jay’Lan Williams. Evans is a transfer from Gainesville.
Overall, it bodes well for Writer, who is 729-309 in 36 years of coaching, including 226-122 in 14 seasons at Mansfield.
“We’ve got to be consistent on both ends of the floor,” Writer said. “We have to have the kids learn to accept their roles and built the team to make it a better team. A lot of parts are there. We’ve just got to work and get better each game.”
