(CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky.) -The Thomas More College men’s basketball team is ready to continue to build on the success the team had last season.

A year ago, Head Coach John Ellenwood’s team finished 11-16 overall, an eight-win improvement from two seasons ago, finished tied for fourth in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) with a 5-7 conference record and won the program’s first-ever PAC Tournament game. Ellenwood and the Saints feel good about the improvements they made last season, but are looking to build on that success and taking another step forward and challenging for the PAC regular season and PAC Tournament titles.

“Our returning players have a better understanding of what is expected of them in order to be competitive in every game, said Ellenwood, who enters his third campaign as the Saints’ mentor. “Winning is difficult and our players learned from last season that it is the “little details” in all areas of the game that can make the difference. Our players are more focused on what they need to accomplish and, as a result, we should be able to take another step in the right direction.”

Ellenwood will have a deep bench with experience with 14 letterwinners returning, including four starters from last season’s team. Headlining the list of returners is 6-6 senior second team All-PAC forward Mark Tinklenberg (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman), who averaged 15.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game and had 50 assists and a team-leading 30 steals. Tinklenberg is a dual threat as he also stepped out and connected on 60-of-158 three-point attempts last season.

Joining Tinklenberg as a returning starter is 6-2 senior wing Matty Owens (Mason, Ohio/Mason), 5-11 sophomore wing John Bovard (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) and 6-0 junior point guard Romell Salone (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills). Owens scored 8.4 ppg., grabbed 4.8 rpg. and was second on the team with 27 steals. Bovard scored 5.9 ppg. as he shot 40 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free-throw line, while Salone ran the offense scoring 5.7 ppg. and dished out a 53 assists.

“This is the first year in my coaching career here at Thomas More where we have a solid core of returning veteran players and I feel that their understanding of our team’s philosophies and their experience in close games will help us to develop further ahead as a program,” stated Ellenwood. “Our coaching staff is excited about our leadership returning and we feel that we have a better understanding of what to expect from them this season.”

Other returning players to look for are 6-3 sophomore wing Eddie Brown (Hamilton, Ohio/Stephen T. Badin), 6-4 senior forward Matt Tierney (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) and 6-7 sophomore post player Brian Muse (Bethel, Ohio/Bethel) all to be improved as they all averaged over 10 minutes of action a game. Brown averaged 7.5 ppg. and 2.4 rpg., Tierney averaged 3.2ppg. and 2.3 rpg. and Muse averaged 5.1 ppg. and had 15 blocks. In addition to the veterans and a solid recruiting class, the Saints have the ingredients for a run at the PAC title and a berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III national tournament.

“On the floor, our team goal is the same as all the teams in our conference, to represent our league in the NCAA tournament, but we have to stay focused on the path to the goal in order to achieve success, said Ellenwood. “We focus to “win everyday” and we challenge our players to focus in on one or two fundamentals each practice that are specific to them, that will help improve their overall skill and ultimately our team’s success.”

Thomas More opens the season on Friday and Saturday, November 21-22 when it travels to Buffalo, New York for the Buffalo State University Tip-Off Tournament.