‘Cheese,’ Ruben, make this an appetizing Berks Conference championship game
Ruben Rodriguez had that “take-no-prisoners” look in his eyes the moment he stepped onto the court at Santander Arena Wednesday night. The Reading High senior sees the bright lights and automatically switches to a higher gear.
“It’s playoffs,” he explained succinctly after the top-seeded Red Knights dispatched fifth-seeded Wilson in a semifinal.
Nothing else need be said.
Rodriguez is a born winner. A few weeks from now he could end up as the most decorated basketball player in Berks history.
He could be Berks’ first four-time District 3 basketball champ. A three-time All-State pick. A three-time All-Berks pick. A two-time Berks Player of the Year. A two-time Berks champ. A two-time Berks scoring champ. And one of the highest-scoring Berks players of all-time.
Fourteen points in Friday’s Berks Conference championship against Exeter will shoot him past the legendary Lonnie Walker IV. Rodriguez figures to hit the 1,900-point mark during the upcoming district tournament. Two grand is not out of the question.
Despite all of that Rodriguez won’t be the central focus or most intriguing player in the BCIAA title game. It’ll be the guy they call “Cheese.”
That’s 6-6 Exeter senior Anthony Caccese, an All-State lineman headed to the University of Delaware to play football. He was one of the centerpieces of Exeter’s run to back-to-back district championship games in football and he’s been the driving force in the Eagles’ first Berks championship appearance in nearly 50 years.
He’s the No. 1 reason Berks Catholic isn’t back in the finals, playing Reading High for the seventh time in nine years. He had a monster game at Wolf Gymnasium two weeks ago, scoring a career-high 27 points and grabbing 17 rebounds as the Eagles knocked the Saints out of first place in Berks II.
He did it again Wednesday, knocking the Saints out of the Berks playoffs with another dominating 27-point performance.
He has the size, strength and footwork needed to get great position down on the blocks, and his teammates – Zyion Paschall, Kevin Saenz and Reece Garvin – know how to get him the ball.
They’ve done a terrific job of that during the Eagles’ nine-game winning streak. Caccese is averaging 17.6 points during that stretch and has led them in scoring in five of those game, including key wins against Wilson, Cedar Cliff and Berks Catholic.
What makes his presence in the big game even bigger is the fact that the Red Knights (23-1) don’t have an established post player who can match up with him. They do a lot of things well – run the floor, force turnovers, shoot it from beyond the arc – but the weakness of their game is post play.
They hide that well because they play a fullcourt game and force their opponents to do likewise. If the Eagles’ guards can’t safely get the ball down court then Caccese ceases to be a dangerous weapon. If Paschall and Saenz can make it a halfcourt game then the “Big Cheese” could become the main dish.
“They have a really big guy, and they use him really well,” Rodriguez said, “so we have to focus on that. (There are) not a lot of people walking around with his size. He’s a great Division I football player and a pretty good basketball player. It’s going to be fun to compete against him.”
Rebounding is not the Red Knights’ strength. They get by because 6-3 Yadiel Cruz, a former guard, has learned to play inside and aggressively go after the ball, and because Rodriguez and Myles Grey are terrific rebounders for guards.
Exeter is a strong on the boards, with Caccese – he averages better than 11 rebounds – and Garvin, a 6-3 forward with the wingspan of someone 6-8. He goes and gets it on the glass.
“Cheese” isn’t the only item on the Eagles’ menu. They’ve won 19 games because of their scoring balance, ability to knock down 3-pointers, depth and defense. They’re battle-tested after a lengthy playoff run last year. And they’re peaking at the right time: They have won 13 of their last 14.
“They come out and compete and do what they have to do,” Rodriguez said, “that’s why they’re really good.”
Despite all of Exeter’s plusses the Red Knights remain the favorite. They always seem to be. They’ve been beaten by a Berks team just once in the two years since Stevie Mitchell went off to Marquette.
They’ve got an all-timer in Rodriguez, and he’s got a strong supporting cast with Grey – an All-Berks candidate – 3-point sniper Aris Rodriguez and the emerging Cruz.
Don’t forget, of course, that Exeter built an eight-point lead over Reading when they met at Reiffton in early January and that the Eagles had the lead going into the fourth quarter. Caccese had 22 points in that one. Rodriguez answered with 24. Reading won 65-60.