Reading’s Yadiel Cruz completes ‘Sensational’ story with All-State selection
Yadiel Cruz arrived in the United States two years ago with a basketball and a dream.
He emigrated from the Dominican Republic to live with his father and his sister in Reading, and to fulfill his father’s desire of seeing him play basketball with the Red Knights.
Winning a state championship?
Scoring 1,000 points?
Earning All-State recognition?
Those weren’t even considerations at the time, but Cruz accomplished them all.
“It’s been a beautiful story to watch unfold right in front of all of our eyes,” said Red Knights coach Francis Camara after Cruz was named a first team Class 6A selection on the Pennsylvania Sportswriters All-State basketball team today.
| 6A First Team | |
| Jalil Bethea | Archbishop Wood |
| Nick Coval | Parkland |
| Greg Guidinger | Central York |
| Shareef Jackson | Roman Catholic |
| Yadiel Cruz | Reading High |
| Jaron McKie | St. Joseph’s Prep |
Berks Catholic’s Kingston McKoy is a third-team pick in Class 4A.
Cruz was a key contributor on the Red Knights’ PIAA Class 6A championship team as a junior and became the go-to guy this season, averaging a league-best 22.1 points per game and leading his team back to the state semifinals.
“He showed up big so many moments when we needed him,” Camara said after Cruz spearheaded an unlikely run through the state tournament. “He was one of the key factors leading us to the Final Four.”
Cruz joins a list of Red Knights All-State picks that includes the likes of Stu Jackson, Donyell Marshall, Trenity Burdine, Moro Osumanu and Lonnie Walker IV.
Ruben Rodriguez was an All-State pick for Reading the past three seasons; he was joined on last year’s team by Aris Rodriguez and Myles Grey, each of whom were third-team picks.
With that dominant trio gone Cruz had to step up as a senior and he did not disappoint: His scoring average was more than three points per game better than any other player in the county and one of the highest scoring averages ever produced by a Red Knight.
Only three Reading players have finished with a higher scoring average: Donyell Marshall set the standard in 1990-91, averaging 24.8; Bill Jankans averaged 23.7 in 1964-67; and Stu Jackson averaged 22.6 as a junior in 1972-73 and 22.2 the following season.
Cruz put up 17 points in the season-opener against Central York, which went on to win the PIAA Class 6A title. Next time out he dropped 24 in Reading’s first win, over McCaskey. A week later he had 25 against Hazleton. Before the end of December he put up 30 against Cardinal O’Hara.
Seemingly out of nowhere he joined Reading’s prestigious list of 1,000-point scorers – playing just 66 games.
“That’s amazing, to do that in two years,” said Camara, “especially your first year coming off the bench when we (had) three guys scoring over 15 points a game.”
Cruz scored a career-high 40 points against Harrisburg. Only four other Reading players have scored more in a game: Ruben Rodriguez, 50 and 42; Buck Friedman, 48; Marshall, 43; and Brian D’Amico, 42.
Two weeks later he added a 37-point game against Cheltenham. He joined Marshall and Ruben Rodriguez as the only players in the program’s 123 seasons to drop 37 or more twice. Only he and Rodriguez did it in the same season.
Cruz’s final total this season: 729 points. That’s second-highest in program history and fifth-highest ever by a Berks player. Only Marshall, West Reading’s legendary Ron Krick and Muhlenberg’s Kave Kapaona have scored more in a single season.
“The kid just has a knack for finding the basketball and a knack putting the ball in the basket,” said Camara. “If we run plays for him, he’s gonna score; if we don’t run plays for him, he’s gonna score because he’ll rebound it and put it back up; he’ll get timely stops defensively, and then transition that into offensive backets.”
Cruz was an outstanding player in his homeland, where he earned the nickname La Sensacion.
Rick Perez, Reading’s head coach in 2022-23, saw that talent right away when he gave Cruz a tryout in the summer of 2022, after the teenager had arrived in the States.
“Skill-wise, we saw it right away,” Camara said of Cruz’s talent. “He came into a very talented group and he fit right in with those guys. He competed at the same level with them.
“It was a matter of him finding his niche and being comfortable and figuring where he fits in. He found a way to stand out and he was very effective.”
Cruz was named Berks Player of the Year by the league’s coaches.
McKoy was the MikeDragoSports.com Player of the Year after a breakout sophomore season that saw him lead the Saints to a 14-0 start. He broke his leg in Berks Catholic’s 15th game and missed the remainder of the season.
Had he played a full season he no doubt would have earned even higher All-State honors, perhaps making the first team.
McKoy was one of the best on-ball defenders in the Berks Conference, one of the best passers, one of the best rebounders – and one of the best teammates.
With him on the floor, creating, breaking down defenses, dishing to open wing shooters, the Saints hummed on offense.
He brought so many things to the table – he handled the ball against the press, defended the opposition’s best player, and averaged 14.9 points per game.
“I’ve had some great players,” said Berks Catholic’s Snip Esterly, who compared McKoy favorably to Wilson’s Stevie Mitchell at the same age, “(but) as a leader . . . I don’t know if I’ve ever had a sophomore like him.”
McKoy is the third Berks Catholic player to earn All-State honors, following Donovan Jack, a first-team pick in 2012, and Nana Foulland, a second-team pick in 2013 and a first-team pick in 2014.
Jack was a three-time All-State pick, earning third- and first-team honors his sophomore and junior seasons, respectively, at Central Catholic.
McKoy has a chance to join Jack, Walker, Ruben Rodriguez, and Ron Krick as the only three-time All-State picks in Berks history.
Krick and Rodriguez are the only three-time first-team picks.
