Last year the Pioneers boys basketball team got off to a  slow start, with a record of 2-4. This continued into January, but they picked it up in February to advance to the playoffs. They ended the season with a record of 9-15,  winning the first round of states against GL. 

Leading the team, NPMS physical education and health teacher coach Cattano has been a head coach for the Pioneer basketball team for over 35 years, and has accomplished 500 career victories in that time. 

Cattano summed up last season by saying “it was very satisfying and we got the most out of our players that we expected to get out of them.” 

He acknowledged: “We played a real tough schedule, which we’ll be playing again this year. I think our kids realized in the off season that they need to put in a little more time whether it’s basketball or the weight room.” 

Coach Cattano believes their goals as a team remain the same:  “We’d like to try to run the conference, do well in the county’s, and same thing with the state tournament.” 

But the main idea for this and every season for Coach Cattano is “to come out and practice as hard as we can everyday and get the best out of every practice and game that we can.”

The captains leading the Pioneers this year are Jackson Zarinko, and Matt Smith.

Assistant coach Manns is “excited to see them lead the team and just produce more than they did last year and add good leadership to our program.”

Zarinko and Smith were also a main contributors to the varsity football team. 

 Manns is excited to coach this season, saying there will be a lot of juniors on the roster so he’s excited to see them develop as well as everyone else on the team. 

Manns promised:  “The fans can look forward to the team playing their hardest as they possibly can every game. Basketball is an exciting sport.” 

The boys basketball season kicks off  at home on December 5th against Irvington