City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2017-18 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed so far can be found here.)

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MANCHESTER — For the past few months — maybe even since late March — any time Antonio Rizzuto or Fred Mulbah or one of their teammates walked into McDonald’s for a sandwich or hit the local Sheetz for a cold drink, they undoubtedly heard someone talking about basketball.

And while the conversation might have turned to the marvelous run Northeastern High School enjoyed last season, it might have been the middle of June and plenty of interested folks already were talking about the rapidly approaching 2017-18 season. Needless to say, there’s a significant buzz in this close-knit York County burg that sits just a long jumper from the Susquehanna River — and Jon Eyster's Bobcats are what’s causing the stir.

Step back a few months to last season and you’ll quickly get an understanding as to why Rizzuto, Mulbah and the rest of Eyster's high-powered ballclub had this close-knit community wound up and bouncing all over the place to see their Bobcats fly up and down the court.

Hey, not everybody goes 30-3. Well, Northeastern did.

Consider …

Northeastern captured the York-Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Division I championship — in its first season in the eight-team circuit — then went on to collar its first YAIAA tournament crown.

Eyster’s Bobcats hoisted a District 3 championship trophy for the first time several weeks later, defeating Mechanicsburg 61-44 at Hershey’s Giant Center in the Class 5A title game. Northeastern’s average winning margin in its four District 3-5A victories — Eyster’s bunch defeated Exeter, Greencastle-Antrim and YAIAA playmate Spring Grove to reach the final — was an impressive 26.5 points per contest.

These guys were hardly finished, however, as the Bobcats downed Wissahickon (78-66), Upper Merion (61-40) and Archbishop Carroll (86-84) in the first three rounds of the PIAA Class 5A playoffs and reached the state semifinals for the first time. However, the energy Northeastern needed to wipe out a 15-point deficit after three quarters, force overtime and eventually turn back Carroll left them exhausted. Two days later, they lost to Meadville.

“We didn’t have anything left for it,” Eyster recalled recently. “We could not make a shot.”

Well, finishing one game short of reaching a state championship game has not dimmed the enthusiasm that’s been growing as the first of 22 regular-season outings rapidly approaches — whether in the school, in the community or among Eyster’s anxious competitors.

Well, Game 1 is tonight at home in Northeastern’s own Tip-Off Tournament against Delone Catholic.

“There’s a ton of excitement,” said the 6-3 Rizzuto, the returning all-state performer who signed several weeks back with an Albany program in which his cousin, former York Catholic great Jon Iati, serves as associate head coach. “Everyone keeps talking about it around school. Can’t wait.”

“The fan support is great,” added the 5-9 Mulbah, the other half of Northeastern’s all-state duo who polished off the District 3 championship game with a windmill dunk. “They’ve supported us ever since we were freshmen. It’s great support. Everybody’s excited, because the season’s going to be fun.”

Yet as much fun as Northeastern and its rabid partisans had during the gold-tinged run the Bobcats pulled off last season, Eyster is trying diligently to get his players plugged in and staying in the moment.

It’s a new season with an athletic 10-man rotation featuring a half-dozen sophomores. Plus, filling the sizable voids created by the departures of 6-2 Brandon Coleman and 5-10 Austin Greene will not be a simple task.

Coleman was the hero of the Carroll victory, collecting 23 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and overtimes by connecting on all nine of his field-goal attempts during that sizzling stretch.

“We can’t replace either one of them,” Eyster said. “It’s going to be easier to replace AG, because we have so many guards. His toughness is what’s going to be hard to replace. He was so tough. Brandon’s the one. We’ve got to hope that [Nate] Wilson’s evolved to the point where he can give us more — and we expect more out of Fred and Antonio. We expect more out of those guys.”

While Eyster admitted that Mulbah is having some difficulties being asked to score more, the Northeastern staff has a number of things in mind for the remarkably athletic Rizzuto — who projects as a guard at the next level yet has to play all five positions on the floor for the smallish Bobcats.

“He understands there’s other places and other ways for him to score for us,” Eyster admitted. “He’ll post up. We’ll put him in isolations on the post this year and he’s really hard to guard down there.”

Quite frankly, Northeastern is difficult to guard. Period.

Close out on perimeter shooters — the Bobcats canned more than 200 treys last season — and these guys will go right around defenders and head for the hoop. Try to protect the rim by using a compact zone and Eyster’s bunch will be glad to bomb away from the perimeter.

And if these guys begin to crank up their transition game, look out.

“We’ve never had a dominant big guy at Northeastern — while I was playing,” Mulbah said. “We’ve always learned how to play fast, kick the ball as fast as possible and try to score as fast as possible.”

With a lineup that returns starters Rizzuto, Mulbah and 6-2 sophomore Nate Wilson — Wilson is a terrific perimeter threat — the Bobcats do have plenty of fast-paced experience. Add 6-1 senior Nate Eyster and 6-2 sophomore Quay Mulbah, reserves at the end of last season, and there’s several more veterans.

The return of 5-11 senior D.J. Hamilton following a two-year run at York Country Day gives the Bobcats another dependable ballhandler and finisher. Hamilton also is arguably the best on-ball defender Northeastern’s had during Eyster’s two stints as head coach.

“I wouldn’t want him to guard me,” Eyster cracked.

“It’s been very smooth,” Mulbah said of Hamilton’s return. “That’s basically my family. They’re raised me, they’ve fed me and they taught me how to play basketball. His dad took me under his wing, so I appreciate them. Him coming back is not difficult at all. That’s my sidekick. That’s my guy — just like Antonio.

“We’ve been playing together our whole lives, so I gel with them pretty well.”

Other sophomores capable of deepening Northeastern’s rotation so Eyster’s Bobcats can maintain their frenetic pace at both ends and wear out opponents include 6-0 lefty shooter Andrew Brodbeck, 6-4 Zech Sanderson, 6-0 Maurice Capo and 6-2 Trevor Fisher.

Regardless of Northeastern’s overall youth, the youngsters will be expected to pitch in … right away.

“We’re still really young,” Jon Eyster cracked. “It doesn’t scare me at all.

“[These 10th graders are] playing and they play against great competition at different levels. They were on the Giant Center floor for the district championship game for big moments. We’re down 10 points and we’ve got three freshmen on the floor. They’re not afraid of it.”

“If you look at it, we still have three of our key players from last year — me, Fred and Nate — and then Nate Wilson, a freshman, played a big role for us,” Rizzuto said.

“We do have some younger guys, but the young guys are doing pretty good so far,” Rizzuto added. “We got in the gym a ton this summer, so they’re looking pretty good and the key is being confident. Based off last year, they know what we can do, so it’s going to be easier for them to get involved.”

And Northeastern will need involvement from every corner of the roster if the Bobcats hope to fend off the likes of Dallastown, Central York and York High and win a second consecutive YAIAA Division I championship.

Nonleague opponents such as York Suburban, Greencastle-Antrim, Cocalico, Steel-High, Bishop McDevitt and Williamsport also dot the Northeastern schedule, which will have an open two-week window around Christmas when the Bobcats won’t do anything but practice.

Yet while it’s a new season — and everyone around the basketball-playing Bobcats is jacked up and filled with lofty expectations — Eyster continues to try to keep his team in the moment.

Yet …

“There’s no guarantees, but you feel like the base has been set,” admitted Eyster, who demands max effort from his players when they’re on the floor and usually gets it. “They believe. They believe we can compete with anybody. We did it last year with nobody over 6-2.”

And …

“We were just determined,” Mulbah recalled. “We were determined to prove everyone wrong. We knew what we had and we knew what we could do, so we just tried to apply it. It paid off pretty well.”

Sure did, as the Bobcats stuffed several program firsts into their fast-paced history books.

“We could have played one more game,” Rizzuto said. “That’s the first time I could have said, ‘That could have been [us in the state championship].’ Are we gonna be 30-3 again this year? I don’t know, but I feel like we’ll be in the same kinds of situations.”

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