Hoop Notes: Ruben’s resume, Berks IV battle, showdown in Fleetwood, and more
Ruben Rodriguez could end up as the most accomplished basketball player in Berks basketball history.
The Reading High senior has already won three District 3 gold medals and could be headed for a fourth. He’s been named first-team All-State twice. And he has a shot to end up with 2,000 career points.
He could even end up as the Red Knights’ all-time scoring leader, surpassing Lonnie Walker IV, though that’ll take both good health and an extended playoff run.
Walker, who’s now playing with LeBron James and wearing a Los Angeles Lakers uniform, finished with 1,828 points over four seasons at Reading. He topped the record set by Donyell Marshall — who enjoyed a long NBA career — by nearly 250 points.
For Rodriguez to get there he would need to average nearly 25.5 points per game and the Red Knights would have to play a full complement of Berks, District 3 and PIAA playoff games — a dozen postseason games. He’s averaging 22.4 points through 13 games.
It’s a long shot, but you would’ve lost a lot of money betting against Rodriguez. He’s as clutch as they come, as he showed during his freshman season at Muhlenberg when he hit several game-winning shots to lead the Muhls to their first district title and beyond.
Tuesday, in a 77-60 win over Muhlenberg, Rodriguez scored a game-high 26 points, pushing his career total to 1,582. He eclipsed both Stu Jackson (1,563) and Marshall (1,581) in the same game and moved up to No. 21 among Berks’ all-time scorers.
(It should be noted that neither Jackson nor Marshall played varsity ball as freshman; Rodriguez did, scoring 288 points for the Muhls.)
On the Reading scoring list, Rodriguez is No. 5 with 1,294 points, behind Walker IV, Marshall, Dick Nyquist and Jackson. He figures to pass all but Walker IV by the time the District 3 Tournament rolls around.
The only Berks player with a more impressive resume is West Reading’s Ron Krick, who set a state scoring record with 3,174 points. He averaged 26.5 points as a freshman and over 32 points per game in each of the next three seasons.
Krick led the Cowboys to District 3 titles in 1959, 1960 and 1961, and won a Berks County championship in 1960, beating a Kutztown team that was in the midst of winning five straight district titles.
Berks all-time scoring leaders
| Ron Krick | West Reading | 1961 | 3,174 |
| Charlie Copp | Tulpehocken | 2000 | 2,440 |
| Keith Bricker | Conrad Weiser | 1978 | 2,221 |
| Stevie Mitchell | Wilson | 2021 | 2,060 |
| Jarrad Gruber | Hamburg | 2000 | 2,014 |
| Aaron Williamson | Hamburg | 1990 | 2,012 |
| Seth Brizek | Oley Valley | 1992 | 1,956 |
| Dick Hauck | Kutztown | 1961 | 1,942 |
| Greg Brizek | Conrad Weiser | 2003 | 1,853 |
| Lonnie Walker IV | Reading High | 2017 | 1,828 |
| Dave Kapaona | Mifflin/Muhlenberg | 1990 | 1,756 |
| Donovon Jack | Central/Berks Cath. | 2012 | 1,725 |
| Mel Edwards | Hamburg | 1987 | 1,713 |
| Darin Walls | Schuylkill Valley | 1991 | 1,695 |
| Brad Unger | Boyertown | 2004 | 1,686 |
| Dick Braucher | Kutztown | 1965 | 1,668 |
| Lorencz Jean-Baptiste | Kutztown | 2019 | 1,646 |
| Troy Williamson | Hamburg | 1983 | 1,643 |
| Dathan Marshall | High Point | 2009 | 1,629 |
| Shawn Swavely | Central Catholic | 1996 | 1,615 |
| Ruben Rodriguez | Reading High | 2023 | 1,582 |
Berks IV battle
Antietam and Oley Valley are back at it again.
(PhilMarPhoto)
Two years after battling to the wire — and then some — for the Berks IV title they’ll be playing for first place again Saturday afternoonb at Oley.
The Lynx are in first place at 3-1, the Mounts right behind at 2-1 entering play Thursday.
Antietam, hit hard by the transfer portal, has reeled off six straight wins after a slow start. It is jockeying with two-time defending champ Lancaster Mennonite for the top spot in the District 3 Class 2A power rankings.
The Mounts have gotten a big lift from sophomore Jowen Reyes-Rodriguez, who’s averaging 13.5 points, second to senior Javon Hollis’ 13.9 per game.
They’ve done all of this without the McKoy brothers, Josh and Kingston, who transferred to Berks Catholic. With that duo the Mounts would’ve been a hands-down favorite to repeat as Berks IV champ.
Now they find themselves batting the Lynx, who have gone 8-4 despite playing all season without injured Chase Reifsnyder, who figured to be their leading scorer. He was injured in soccer season; his return for basketball is uncertain.
Two years ago the Lynx won the division title by beating the Mounts 68-63 in two overtimes at Stony Creek in the final regular season game.
Streaking Saints
Berks Catholic is two wins away from matching the program record for consecutive victories to start a season, but it’ll tough to break that mark.
The Saints (12-0) play at Muhlenberg Friday and then face Wilson (9-3) next Thursday. They would need to win both games, plus win at Gov. Mifflin Monday, to reach 15-0. They opened their first season in 2011-12 with 14 straight wins before falling to Constitution. They ended that season with a 28-3 record, which remains the program record for wins (which they matched in 2017-18).
The Saints’ longest winning streak, 24 games, came in 2017-18.
Berks Catholic beat Muhlenberg 80-64 at Wolf Gymasium last season, with Josiah Jordan scoring 25 points.
The Muhls are 7-5 after a 77-60 loss to Reading High Tuesday; they have dropped three of their last four games.
Weekend forecast
(Tim Macrina photo)
Jake Karnish could become the highest-scoring player in Fleetwood history this weekend.
The Berks scoring leader ranks fourth in program history with 1,148 points, 53 shy of Dave Angstadt’s record of 1,201, set in 1983.
Karnish, an All-Berks pick as a junior, is leading the league in scoring at 25.8 points and has scored 30 or more three times this season.
The Tigers (12-0) play at Kutztown Friday and against Manhiem Central Saturday afternoon.
Manheim is probably the best team on Fleetwood’s schedule and could stand in the way of an unbeaten season. The Barons are 10-2, in first place in Section 2 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League and ranked No. 2 in the District 3 Class 5A power ratings.
The Barons are led by 5-11 senior guard Trey Grube, a third-team All-State pick as a junior. He is averaging 23.9 points and has scored over 1,400 in his career.
The Barons are coached by Reading High grad Charlie Fisher. They handed the Tigers their first loss last season, 66-55, after a 7-0 start.
Another milestone ahead
Josiah Jordan on Tuesday became the fifth player to score 1,000 points with Berks Catholic. He’s got plenty of season left to become the Saints’ all-time scoring leader.
Jordan, who enters Friday’s game at Muhlenberg with 1,001 points, needs 118 points to top Casey Jack’s record of 1,118.
The Saints have 10 games remaining and figure to play a bunch of playoff games after that. Jordan is averaging a team-leading 15.8 points per game.
Donovan Jack (1,725), Tyrone Nesby IV (1,157) and Marquis Marshall (1,140) also played for Berks Catholic but none scored 1,000 points with the Saints.
Jack and Marshall played as seniors at Berks Catholic after playing at Central Catholic; Nesby transferred to Reading High for his senior season.
