By Joe Mason
The road to the final four started with a pothole.
It was just after Izaiah Brockington’s sophomore season, when he really came into his own. He led the Archbishop Ryan High School basketball team in scoring, and while the team’s 4–9 Catholic League record wasn’t what he had hoped, he was feeling pretty good.
And to make sure the team would stay on the right path, all of the returning players would gather to work out in the gym after school. One day, he got what he thought was good news.
“We were in there playing and coach (Bernie) Rogers told us to come in the conference room, and we were getting pizza,” Brockington recalled. “We were happy. We were in there, eating, talking, just having fun. And then he came in and told us he was leaving and going to Haverford (School). After that, I didn’t even want any pizza.”
It was quite a blow.
While Rogers’ final season at Ryan wasn’t a good one, he was an extremely successful coach, and a guy whom players loved to play under. Brockington took it so hard, he thought about not staying at the school he loved.
“I was starting to think, I wanted to play for Coach Rogers, so even though I didn’t want to leave, I thought about what I was going to do,” Brockington said.
Then a name he knew was floated out.
Joe Zeglinski.
Brockington never saw the former Raider play basketball, but he did see his name quite a bit. Zeglinski’s №24 hangs in the gym because it was retired. He was the all-time leading scorer in school history. And he enjoyed a great career at the University of Hartford.
Brockington didn’t know Zeglinski, but he knew Zeglinski knew basketball.
“That name got me excited because his number is retired, we’ve all heard about him,” Brockington said. “Then he came in, and we all got to meet him. I didn’t know him well, but he sat down and told us that we were going to compete for a Catholic League championship right away. It wasn’t going to be years from now, it was going to be now.”
Zeglinski doesn’t just know basketball.
He knows how to motivate people.
The Raiders didn’t win a Catholic League championship, but for the last two seasons, they enjoyed memorable seasons and this year they made it to the final four of the PIAA Class AAAAAA playoffs.
Zeglinksi wasn’t the only reason they made it as far as they did, but it certainly put them in the right direction after his first meeting with the team.
“He looked at us and told us we were going to win right away,” said Ryan senior Chris Palantino, who also was a sophomore when Zeglinski got hired. “He told us that we were going to go to the Palestra and we were going to compete right away. He told us we weren’t far off the other Catholic League teams. At first, you think he’s just saying it, but then after we got together and started playing, he was right.”
Last year was a good one.
The Raiders seemingly came out of nowhere to make it to the Catholic League semifinals, but they lost a lopsided game to Neumann-Goretti at the Palestra.
That meant the Raiders were one of the best teams in the Catholic League, but they still had a ways to go before they could compete with the upper echelon of the division.
Then there was another problem.
Brockington was a stud, and Matis Kulackovskis, who arrived before last season by way of Latvia, was an up-and-coming player.
The rest of the players were pretty much unknowns to a lot of people, including Ryan fans.
On top of that, the team had to replace three great players: Freddie Killian, Austin Chabot and Austin Slawter.
They were great players, but Brockington knew the truth about the guys who were filling in those holes. He knew Palantino, center Fred Taylor and guards Amin Bryant and Jaquill Stone would be up to the task.
“Nobody knew these guys, but I knew them and they are my guys,” Brockington said. “Chris is great. Fred is great. Matis was great last year and he was even better this year. And Amin and Jaquill were great. I wasn’t worried.”
Maybe Zeglinski’s optimism wore off on Brockington, or maybe Brockington is also an excellent talent evaluator, because this year wasn’t as good as last year.
This year was even better.
Ryan had its most successful season in terms of wins and winning percentage, as it finished 23–6 on the year. Its final loss was a 57–51 setback to Reading in the state semifinals. It will be the last game this group plays together, but it won’t be the one they remember the most.
In fact, when thinking about their high school career, the players on this team won’t look back on a play, a game or even a playoff run.
They’ll look back on everything.
“We’re not a team, we’re a family,” Palantino said. “We said it all the time. We said it at timeouts, before games, after games, at practice. We would go over to the AR (on the floor at center court) and say, ‘Family.’ These guys aren’t my teammates, they’re my brothers.”
“That’s what I loved about playing for Ryan, it is the family atmosphere,” Brockington said. “We love each other. We wanted to win for each other. We all wanted to play together and win as a team. It’s a family. One big family.”
It was a family.
It was also a unit that saw every player do his job, and do it well.
Brockington was the leader. When the team needed scoring, he would fill up the stat sheet. Also this year, he became a shutdown defender. He usually was responsible for stopping the other team’s best player, and he did that well.
Kulackovskis was the team’s inside-outside presence. When he wanted to get to the rim, he did. But he also posed problems by knocking down jumpers, which drew the other team’s big men out.
Taylor owned the paint. He would patrol underneath the basket, and much of the time it looked like he was playing volleyball as he spiked opponents’ offerings back out.
Palantino was the cagey veteran who could be the calming presence when needed. He also had a deadly shot and when he was hot, it usually led to massive Raider runs.
Bryant was the straw that stirred the drink. He would play point guard and make sure all of the other players were getting their shots. Ryan had a lot of weapons, and Bryant did his best to find them.
Then you had Stone and Devon Vargas, who would come off the bench and do their thing. Both brought instant energy to the floor and, like the starters, it helped that they did whatever was needed.
A lot of guys on this team could probably win a lot of games if they were playing one-on-one in the schoolyard, but they were better collectively than they were individually.
“We definitely played better together,” Brockington said. “I knew coming in that we would be good because I saw the way we played together. We have fun. I’ve had a lot of fun playing before, but this was the most fun.”
While this team will never play high school ball together again, the players all have basketball in their future.
Brockington is bound for the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Kulackovskis is headed to Bowling Green. Taylor has reservations at West Chester, and Palantino is still figuring out where he’ll end up, but he plans on playing next winter.
The rest of the squad will return. Sure, they have big shoes to fill, but they did this year, and the guys who won’t be back are banking on another strong year.
“They’re going to do what we did this year and take another step,” Palantino said. “This was a huge season in the history of Archbishop Ryan basketball, and they’re going to do it again next year. They have a lot of talent coming back. Not everyone might see it, but we do. They’ll be better next year, and we’ll be back to watch it.”
They’ll also be missing it.
Brockington has become a household name in the Philly basketball world.
And he’s arguably the best to ever play at Ryan. This year, he surpassed his coach’s career scoring mark and for the second straight season, he was a first team All-Catholic selection.
When Zeglinski first got the gig, Brockington’s goal was to learn from the best player in the history of the school. Not only did he learn from him, he created an argument about who now is the best.
“I’m honored to be up there with him,” Brockington said. “He’s a competitor. He taught me so much. I’m going to miss playing for him. I’m going to miss playing with these guys. I’m going to miss everything about it.
“Ryan has been great. It’s everything I wanted. Things worked out perfectly, and I had a great time. I’m excited about college, but I’m really going to miss playing for this school, with these guys and in front of our fans. It really was perfect.” ••
