Reading’s Ruben Rodriguez has this habit of scoring, and he’s not about to give it up
Rick Perez reminds his Reading High players all the time about forming good basketball habits. Do it the right way in practice, put it to work come game time, more times than not you’ll end up on the right side of the score.
The Red Knights coach calls it “process over outcome.”
His star pupil, Ruben Rodriguez, gets it, even if he doesn’t use the same verbiage.
The All-State guard hit a dry spell from the field Wednesday against Chester at the Geigle. Rodriguez didn’t dwell on it. He didn’t stop shooting. He didn’t melt away. He kept running the floor, making cuts in the halfcourt game, looking for ways to get to the basket.
Before you knew it he had 26 points, more than anyone else in the Red Knights’ 71-57 victory over the Clippers.
“Honestly, I don’t pay much mind to that,” Rodriguez said of his shooting percentage or his point total on the scoreboard. “I work really hard, especially in a game like this. I just trust what I’m doing and have confidence that my teammates and coaches trust what I’m doing.”
What’s he’s done so far has led to Berks Player of the Year honors, a scholarship to play at Rider, three straight District 3 championships and a PIAA title. Why change his methodology?
Wednesday his methods led to the Red Knights’ seventh straight win to open the season, even if it wasn’t as smooth or resounding as he or his coach would have liked.
The Red Knights never trailed and led by as many as 21 late in the fourth quarter; it just took a while, and some extra effort, to get there.
Perez, his bar always set high — you don’t win two state championships in the span of five years striving to be okay — called it a “low energy” performance.
His guys weren’t as charged up for a game against a program such as Chester’s — the only one in the state with eight PIAA championships — as he might’ve hoped.
Maybe that had something to do with Chester’s record — just 3-2 coming in– or the fact that two of the key players from its District 1 Class 5A championship team of last season transferred to Philadelphia Catholic League programs in the offseason.
“It was just a gritty win,” Perez said. “Little by little we chipped away and before you knew it we were up 20. We found a way to win. (The seniors), they’ve been through this, so they understand that — shot’s not falling, grab a rebound; shot’s not falling, take a charge; (get) down on the floor, whatever it may be. We have to find other ways to win. You can’t rely on the 3-ball going down or scoring in bunches.”
That’s what Rodriguez does, and did. He drained a pair of 3-pointers in the first four minutes but didn’t find the basket again until he got loose in tranition early in the third and threw down a dunk. That seemed to get him and the Red Knights going.
They went to an effective 1-2-1-1 fullcourt trap, started forcing turnovers and were off to the races. They scored off the press several times and beat the Clippers down the floor after missed shots a bunch more.
“Our focus is always to score as fast as possible,” Rodriguez said. “We knew they were a very fast team but nobody can run with us. And that goes to show you. We ran with them like it was nothing. That’s just what we do. We know that if we stick with that we’ll be very good.”
The win over Chester — even a below-average Chester team — was significant. It tied the long-time series — one that began during World War I — at 21-21.
It was Reading’s third straight in the series, a mini win streak it hadn’t been able to achieve in nearly 40 years, since taking three straight from 1980-83.
“It’s always a fun game every time we play Chester,” Rodriguez said. “It’s never going to be easy, it’s never going to be a walk in the park, but I love games like that. Not a lot of teams are that quick or as athletic as them. It was a really good test for us.”
Junior Yadiel Cruz, in his first season in the program, scored a career-high 14 points for the Red Knights, 11 in the final quarter. Myles Grey had 10 points and three assists. Nico Sosa came off the bench to contribute nine points, also a career high.
Rodriguez has now scored 1,187 points in three seasons with the Red Knights and 1,475 in his career (he played at Muhlenberg as a freshman). Even when the shots aren’t always falling he finds a way to score — and win. Wednesday it was getting out in transition and getting to the foul line, where he made 7-of-10.
“He’s just gritty,” Perez said. “It was a disgusting (26) points. Dig deep and it’ll come. That’s what Ruben does. His ultimate skill is competitiveness.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Chester | 10 | 13 | 15 | 19 | 57 |
| Reading High | 15 | 14 | 17 | 25 | 71 |
| Clippers (3-3) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| White | 0-3 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Womack | 5-16 | 3-4 | 0-3 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| Cobb | 8-22 | 2-2 | 6-14 | 0 | 5 | 24 |
| Toy | 1-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 11 | 2 |
| Williams | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 10 | 4 |
| Atkinson | 0-3 | 7-8 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Coleman | 1-3 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Thompson | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Chambers | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | 19-58 | 13-19 | 6-20 | 6 | 37-40 | 57 |
| Red Knights (7-0) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Burdine | 0-2 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| Cruz | 4-5 | 6-8 | 0-0 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| R. Rodriguez | 8-18 | 7-10 | 3-6 | 3 | 6 | 26 |
| Grey | 5-13 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| A. Rodriguez | 3-6 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Osumanu | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Sosa | 4-5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Samuels | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Burgess | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Rosario | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Totals | 24-50 | 17-26 | 5-14 | 9 | 28-31 | 71 |
Turnovers: Chester 19, Reading High 12.
