Edwin Suarez, Ruben Rodriguez to continue rivalry in international tourney

Reading High’s Ruben Rodriguez and Muhlenberg’s Edwin Suarez will resume their basketball rivalry Tuesday 2,600 miles from home.

Rodriguez, competing for Puerto Rico, and Suarez, competing for the Dominican Republic, will meet in the FIBA U18 Americas Championship tournament in Tijuana, Mexico.

The meeting of Berks student-athletes, competing on opposite teams in an international competition, may be unprecedented in local basketball history.

Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are part of Group B, along with Ecuador and the United States. The two All-Berks picks will face each other Tuesday, is each team’s second game, at 4:00 EST. The game can be viewed on You Tube livestream.

The Dominican Basketball Federation did not announce its team until late last week. Rodriguez was informed he had made Team Puerto late last month.

Suarez and the Dominican team arrived in Mexico Saturday for two days of training ahead of its first game, today against the United States at 6:30 EST. The Creoles finished sixth in the 2018 tournament.

Rodriguez flew out of Philadelphia last to Puerto Rico, where he joined his Team Puerto Rico teammates for several days of practice.

Rodriguez and Suarez are each two-time All-Berks picks who have played each against each for the past three seasons.

Suarez moved from Puerto Rico to the United States shortly before high school and played at Reading High for his first two seasons before transferring to Muhlenberg. He apparently has a parent or grandparent from the Dominican Republic, making him eligible to compete for that country.

Rodriguez, who was born in the United States, played at Muhlenberg as a freshman before transferring to Reading for his sophomore season. His father, Ruben Sr., was born in Puerto Rico.

The Berks I champ Red Knights and Berks II champ Muhls met twice last season, with each team winning once. Suarez scored a game-high 21 points in a 63-61 Muhlenberg victory at Laureldale on Feb. 8. Eight days later the Red Knights took out the Muhls 70-54 in a Berks Conference semifinal. Rodriguez scored 14 points; Suarez scored nine points before fouling out.

The 6-6 Suarez was the league’s most dominant big man, leading the team in rebounds and blocked shots while averaging 19.0 points, second in the league.

Rodriguez, the Berks Player of the Year, averaged a league-leading 19.4 points and led the Red Knights to Berks League and District 3 Class 6A championships.

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. The 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 was not finalized until late last week.

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.