1,000 points in two seasons? ‘Amazing,’ says Reading coach of Yadiel Cruz’s feat
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
The basket that put Yadiel Cruz over the coveted 1,000-point scoring milestone Tuesday was one Reading High fans had seen dozens of times.
The 6-2 forward cut to the hoop along the baseline, took a feed from Nick Chapman, then went up against guys four, five, six inches taller and found a way to get it past them and into the bucket.
It came late in the third period against Central York and pulled the Red Knights within six points of the lead in their PIAA Class 6A semifinal.
Cruz kept scoring – he went on to finish with a team-high 21 points – but it wasn’t enough. He would’ve needed to drop another 20 to keep Reading’s season alive. He couldn’t; Central prevailed 79-65, ending one of the more intriguing seasons in Red Knights history.
Few gave them a chance to be playing into March but they kept fighting on, taking down Chester, Erie McDowell, and Coatesville in the state tournament.
“Kudos to these guys, man,” said first-year coach Francis Camara, ticking off the names of senior leaders Nick Chapman and Malik Osumanu, of Nico Sosa and Daquan Burgess, seniors who came off the bench and played key roles in the 22-win season, and of course of Cruz.
Two years ago even the diehards among the Reading basketball crowd hadn’t heard the name Yadiel Cruz. He didn’t arrive on the scene until the summer of 2022 when he moved to Reading from his native Dominican Republic to join his father and sister here.
Reading High’s 1,000-point scorers
| Ruben Rodriguez | 2023 | 2,008 | Trenity Burdine | 2010 | 1,281 | ||
| Lonnie Walker IV | 2017 | 1,828 | Tyrone Nesby IV* | 2017 | 1,157 | ||
| Donyell Marshall | 1991 | 1,581 | Jaren Burdine | 2002 | 1,094 | ||
| Dick Nyquist | 1919 | 1,576 | Jalan Branford | 2013 | 1,094 | ||
| Stu Jackson | 1973 | 1,563 | Neil Christel | 1978 | 1,081 | ||
| Jordan Burdine | 2008 | 1,435 | Daniel Alcantara | 2022 | 1,056 | ||
| Bill Jankans | 1966 | 1,423 | Yadiel Cruz | 2024 | 1,010 | ||
| Jermaine Jackson | 2008 | 1,400 | Khary Mauras | 2016 | 1,005 | ||
| Brian D’Amico | 1986 | 1,359 | Robby Pollard | 1994 | 1,004 | ||
| Wesley Butler | 2019 | 1,315 |
He brought with him a well-rounded basketball game and a nickname – La Sensacion – one earned for his outstanding play on his native island.
Former Reading coach Rick Perez was tipped off about the kid, invited him to the Geigle for a tryout . . . and the rest is history.
Cruz played a key role off the bench in the Red Knights’ PIAA championship run a year ago, then stepped up to carry this team further than anyone might have imagined.
Camara’s first team had a lot of strong elements – defenders, leaders, fighters – but it lacked a true scorer. Cruz became that. He showed that on opening night with 17 points against Central York, which entered the season considered among the best teams in the state.
Next time out Cruz dropped 24 in Reading’s first win, over McCaskey. A week later he had 25 against Hazleton. Before the end of the month he put up 30 against Cardinal O’Hara. He led the league in scoring from start to finish, putting up numbers few Reading players ever had.
And, seemingly out of nowhere, he joined Reading’s prestigious list of 1,000-point scorers – playing just 66 games over two seasons.
“That’s amazing, to do that in two years,” said Camara, “especially your first year coming off the bench when we (had) three guys scoring over 15 points a game.”
Cruz would’ve been able to consistently score 16, 17 points a night a year ago except for the fact that he would’ve never gotten his hands on the ball enough. Not with All-State picks Ruben Rodriguez, Myles Grey, and Aris Rodriguez on hand; they provided all the scoring the Red Knights needed.
Cruz had to carve out his own role and he found it by being a scrapper, a guy who found his way inside, drew contact, grabbed rounds and finished against bigger guys.
“He found his way,” Camara said. “He just took over this team and led this team with all his actions.”
Cruz ended up averaging 22.1 points per game this season. That’s more than three points per game better than any other player in the county and one of the highest scoring averages ever produced by a Red Knight.
Only three Reading players have finished with a higher number: Donyell Marshall set the standard in 1990-91, averaging 24.8; Bill Jankans averaged 23.7 in 1964-67; and Stu Jackson averaged 22.6 as a junior in 1972-73 and 22.2 the following season.
Those are big numbers, from big names.
Just as big: Cruz’s final total this season — 729 points. That’s second-highest in Reading basketball history and fifth-highest ever by a Berks player. Only Marshall, West Reading’s legendary Ron Krick and Muhlenberg’s Kave Kapaona have scored more in a single season.
That’s it, that’s the list.
“The kid just has a knack for finding the basketball and a knack putting the ball in the basket,” said Camara. “If we run plays for him, he’s gonna score; if we don’t run plays for him, he’s gonna score because he’ll rebound it and put it back up; he’ll get timely stops defensively, and then transition that into offensive backets.”
Cruz scored a career-high 40 points against Harrisburg. Only four other Reading players have scored more in a game: Ruben Rodriguez, 50 and 42; Buck Friedman, 48; Marshall, 43; and Brian D’Amico, 42.
Two week later he added a 37-point game against Cheltenham. He joined Marshall and Ruben Rodriguez as the only players in the program’s 123 seasons to drop 37 or more twice. Only he and Rodriguez did it in the same season.
“Yadiel’s hard to stop because he just keeps coming at you,” Camara said.
Like his teammates Cruz fought to the end Tuesday; he left a lasting legacy at the Castle on the hill and wrote an unexpected ending to an unforeseen story.
“When you do all the things right in the classroom,” Camara said, “when you’re amazing on the court, when you’re a great leader and a great person, things are always gonna go your way.”
Most points in a single season
| Ron Krick | West Reading | 961 | 1958-59 |
| Ron Krick | West Reading | 948 | 1959-60 |
| Dave Kapaona | Muhlenberg | 820 | 1989-90 |
| Donyell Marshall | Reading High | 794 | 1990-91 |
| Yadiel Cruz | Reading High | 729 | 2023-24 |
| Ruben Rodriguez | Reading High | 717 | 2022-23 |
| Keith Bricker | Conrad Weiser | 703 | 1976-77 |
| Shawn Swavely | Central Catholic | 697 | 1995-96 |
| Seth Brizek | Oley Valley | 685 | 1991-92 |
| Brandon Smith | Gov. Mifflin | 683 | 2001-02 |
