Reading’s Yadiel Cruz is Weeber/Langdon Team of Merrill Lynch Player of the Week
Yadiel Cruz arrived in Reading in 2022 from the Dominican Republic with a dream and a reputation.
He wanted to play for the Red Knights and had a basketball resume – and a nickname – to prove he could.
Cruz was a part-time starter and a key contributor in the Red Knights’ PIAA Class 6A championship season but he didn’t quite live up to the nickname he had earned in his homeland: La Sensacion.
This season it’s been a different story. Counted on to score more and lead a young Red Knights team he has come through. He scored 49 points last week in a pair of wins over Bethlehem Liberty and Cardinal O’Hara to help his team claim the Reading Holiday Tournament championship. Cruz earned Weeber/Langdon Team of Merrill Lynch Player of the Week honors.
The honor is the second for Cruz; he was also selected Player of the Week last January.
Cruz scored a game-high 19 points in a 55-46 win over Liberty in the semifinals, then dropped a career-high 30 in a 73-66 victory over O’Hara.
Previously his career high had been 25 in a win over Hazleton earlier this season.
Cruz has scored 20 or more points in six of Reading’s nine games and leads the team, and the league, in scoring at 20.4 per game. He is averaging 23.4 points over Reading’s last five games.
Last season he was fourth on the team in scoring at 8.5 points per game. His season high was 20 in a 79-38 win at Twin Valley.
Cruz began playing with the Red Knights during the summer of 2022 and made such an impression on head coach Rick Perez that he was in the starting lineup for the season-opener against Central York.
He was moved to a sixth-man role in early January. Coincidentally or not he took off after that, with a 15-point, 14-rebound performance in a 77-60 win over Muhlenberg last week. He followed with 20 and 14 against Twin Valley.
Cruz is Reading’s first Player of the Week recipient this season.
Players considered for Weeber/Langdon Team of Merrill Lynch Player of the Week honors are nominated by their coach or by members of the MikeDragoSports.com coverage team.
Also considered for Player of the Week:
- AJ Scheifly, Antietam
- Kingston McKoy, Berks Catholic
- Aiden Soumas, Fleetwood
- Chase Franks, Kutztown
- Ben DeBalko, Oley Valley
Players selected earlier this season:
- Dec. 11: Alex Collado, Muhlenberg
- Dec. 18: Madyx Gruber, Wilson
- Dec. 25: Nate Herb, Fleetwood
Players selected last season:
- Dec. 12: Jake Karnish, Fleetwood
- Dec. 19: Mark Rajnath, Schuylkill Valley
- Dec. 26: Ryan Koch, Berks Catholic
- Jan. 2: Myles Grey, Reading High
- Jan 9: Jake Karnish, Fleetwood
- Jan. 16: Yadiel Cruz, Reading High
- Jan. 23: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- Jan. 30: Aiden Soumas, Fleetwood
- Feb. 6: Anthony Caccese, Exeter
- Feb. 13: Cooper Hohenadel, Schuylkill Valley
- Feb. 20: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- Feb. 27: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- March 6: Anthony Caccese, Exeter
- March 13: Myles Grey, Reading High
- March 20: Kevin Saenz, Exeter
- March 27: Nick Chapman, Reading High
Players selected in 2021-22 season:
- Dec. 20: Matt Harley, Gov. Mifflin
- Dec. 27: Colin Payne, Exeter
- Jan. 3: Jake Karnish, Fleetwood
- Jan. 10: Myles Grey, Reading High
- Jan. 17: Danny Turchi, Oley Valley
- Jan. 24: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- Jan. 31: Julian O’Brien, Wyomissing
- Feb. 7: Xavier Goodman, Kutztown
- Feb. 14: Danny Turchi, Oley Valley
- Feb. 21: Ruben Rodriguez, Reading High
- Feb. 28: Hector Tiburcio, Antietam
- March 7: Joey Chapman, Reading High
