Ruben Rodriguez headed to Americas Championship

Ruben Rodriguez flew out of Philadelphia Wednesday morning on his way to Puerto Rico, where he will join his Team Puerto Rico teammates as they prepare for the FIBA U18 Americas Championship, which starts next week.

Rodriguez, a junior at Reading High, was added to the team last month after a season in which he was named Berks Player of the Year and to the Class 6A All-State team.

The tournament, being played in Tijuana, Mexico, begins with round-robin play June 6. Puerto Rico will play Ecuador on the opening day. It will will play the Dominican Republic on June 7 and the United States on June 8.

Puerto Rico is in Group B, along with the Dominican, Ecuador and the USA. Group A includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Mexico.

The top four teams from group play advance to the semifinals; all four will qualify for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023.

The championship game is June 12.

Puerto Rico went 2-2 in a February qualifying round, with two wins over Cuba and losses to the USA and Mexico.

Puerto Rico is currently No. 12 in the world rankings. USA is No. 1, followed by Spain and Australia.

The 2020 tournament was canceled, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Team USA won the 2018 championship, held in St. Catherines, Canada. USA has been crowned champion in the past five tournaments. Puerto Rico won in 2002; Argentina won in 2008.

The U.S. has won gold at nine of 11 FIBA Americas U18 Championships since the event’s inception in 1990.

Team USA’s roster has not been finalized yet.

Rodriguez, who was born in the U.S., is eligible to play for Puerto Rico because his father, Ruben Sr., was born in the U.S. Territory.

This will be the first international competition for Rodriguez, who has several Division I offers, most recently from Drexel.

Rodriguez was a first-team All-State pick as sophomore after leading Reading High to PIAA Class 6A title. He took his game up a notch this season, on both the offensive and defensive ends. He scored a Berks-high 19.8 points per game, shot 74.3 percent from the foul line and made 35 3-pointers.

He topped 1,000 points at midseason, finished with 1,291 and could end up in the 1,800-point range with another productive season.

He led the Red Knights to the District 3 championship, his third district title in three seasons; as a freshman he was the starting point guard on Muhlenberg’s Class 5A championship team.