Hard-working Red Knights knock off Upper Darby in PIAA quarterfinal
(This story will be updated later tonight with additional details and postgame reaction.)
COATESVILLE — You can break down Reading High’s latest win in the PIAA Tournament by looking at the scoring totals or listening to the coaches talk about X’s and O’s.
Not necessary.
One simple reason the Red Knights beat Upper Darby 83-58 Wednesday night: They played harder.
The District 3 champion Red Knights (29-1) scrapped for every loose ball, battled for every rebound, contested every shot and forced the Royals (19-10) into a whopping 26 turnovers.
It added up to a harder-than-it-looked victory — Upper Darby was within eight with six minutes to go — but good enough to send the Red Knights to the Elite Eight for a match-up with District 7 runner-up New Castle on Saturday, site and time to be determoined.
All-State guard Ruben Rodriguez led the way with 22 points but four other players reached double-digits. Chief among them was Yadiel Cruz, who came off the bench to score 17 points and grab a game-high 11 rebounds.
Aris Rodriguez threw down a couple slams and scored 15 points, Myles Grey had 14 points and a game-high six assists and Malik Osumanu scored a career-high 10.
All-league senior Nadir Myers, who averages about 20 points per game and became the Upper Darby’s second 1,000-point scorer in January, scored a game-high 28 points.
The Red Knights were up six after the first quarter and 36-28 at the half, with Ruben Rodriguez supplying 13 points. He consistently beat the Royals to the basket and scored a couple ties off steals.
Reading, effectively using its halfcourt trap, had the Royals struggling to advance the ball past halfcourt. Upper Darby committed 15 first-half turnovers, nearly half of them because of the press.
Reading High went out in the second round of the state tournament last season, losing 64-58 to Archbishop Ryan.
This is Reading’s first appearance in a state quarterfinal since 2021 and third in the last seven seasons. The other two times, including 2017, it won PIAA championships. The Red Knights won their first two games in 2020 to reach the Elite Eight but the tournament was suspended due to COVID-19 before that game could be played and the season never resumed.
Upper Darby blew a 17-point, second-half lead Saturday and needed two overtimes to survive an opening-round game at Bethlehem Liberty, 66-64. It was their first win in the PIAA Tournament since 2013 and just their second overall.
The Royals entered the District 1 Tournament as the No. 10 seed and finished sixth after knocking off No. 7 Perkiomen Valley in the second round. Lost twice in the tournament, once to Lower Merion by 32 points, the other to C.B. East 67-54 in sixth-place game.
Miymire Brown was a Central League honorable mention pick, along with 6-3 senior Jassir Joyner, who joined Myers in the 1,000-point club late in the season. Joyner scored the winning bucket Saturday, coming up with a steal under the final and beating the buzzer with a lay-up.
Upper Darby finished third in the Central League, behind unbeaten Radnor and Lower Merion. Four of nine losses came to Lower Merion. It beat Haverford twice, by eight and nine points; the Fords lost at Reading 74-43 in first round.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Upper Darby | 14 | 14 | 17 | 13 | 58 |
| Reading High | 20 | 16 | 20 | 27 | 83 |
| Royals (19-10) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Slaughter | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Mulbach | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Myers | 9-17 | 5-8 | 5-8 | 1 | 2 | 28 |
| Joyner | 8-20 | 2-3 | 1-4 | 0 | 5 | 19 |
| N. Brown | 1-3 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| Alston | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Hodges | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jackson | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Bamisaye | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Davis | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A Brown | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 21-46 | 9-13 | 7-17 | 3 | 18-26 | 58 |
| Red Knights (29-1) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Burdine | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| R. Rodriguez | 9-18 | 4-5 | 0-0 | 3 | 4 | 22 |
| Grey | 5-14 | 4-8 | 0-4 | 6 | 4 | 14 |
| A Rodriguez | 4-10 | 7-11 | 0-3 | 1 | 6 | 15 |
| Osumanu | 4-5 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Cruz | 6-8 | 5-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 11 | 17 |
| Chapman | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ortega | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Samuel | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Sosa | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 30-60 | 23-34 | 0-7 | 15 | 36-38 | 83 |
Turnovers: Upper Darby 26, Reading High 13.
