Juan Maldonado received a warning when he took over the Holyoke boys basketball program: watch out for Jael Cabrera. The then-sophomore played and carried himself with a passion that some viewed as out of control or counter productive.

“Some people were telling me ‘good luck with this kid’ in a sarcastic way, like he’s a hard kid to coach,” Maldonado said. “He’s been a coach’s dream.”

Cabrera started on Maldonado’s inaugural Purple Knights squad as a sophomore. The raw athlete struggled shooting the ball. He didn’t fit the typical Holyoke point guard mold. Cabrera was more of an athlete, a stronger football player than basketball who also ran track in the spring.

But basketball – specifically Holyoke basketball – runs in his blood. His father Wilvaldo Cabrera won two sectional titles in his only two years of varsity competition, while his uncle Wilfredo brought home two Western Massachusetts championships and scored 1,000 points for the Purple Knights.

“The first thing I ever picked up was a basketball. The legacy that my family had put in Holyoke basketball and what they’ve done and how big of an impact they have in Holyoke basketball, it just keeps on taking me back to it,” Jael Cabrera said. “I always wanted to keep on going with that legacy. I never wanted it to really die.”

He faced a brutal decision last year as a junior when both football and basketball were pushed to the “Fall II” bridge season between winter and spring. Cabrera couldn’t play both. He picked football, likely giving up an opportunity to join his family members in Holyoke’s 1,000-point club. He’ll play football at Sussex County Community College in New Jersey next year.

“If I would have been able to play basketball my junior year, I would have scored 1,000 points without a doubt,” Jael Cabrera said. “When it was happening, I couldn’t dwell on the past. I had to keep going through.”

He dedicated his free time to the court or the field, developing his game. Cabrera became a dangerous jump shooter and entered this season as Holyoke’s unquestioned leader and one of the best players in Western Massachusetts.

“The guys seeing Jael act that way and perform that way, they just follow. It makes my job easier,” Maldonado said. “That mindset he has, wanting to be in the moment, wanting to make big plays, you either have it or you don’t, and he has it. He always wanted to be in the big moment.”

Cabrera, the Daily Hampshire Gazette Boys Basketball Player of the Year, led the Purple Knights to the Division 2 state quarterfinals this season. He averaged nearly 23 points per game and scored at least 20 points 10 times, topping 30 twice.

“That was really my season,” Cabrera said. “I felt unstoppable, like no one could really touch me.”

He hit game winners that silenced rival gyms. His big shots at home against Pope Francis and Agawam in the Western Massachusetts quarterfinals ignited the assembled city of Holyoke in John “Jinx” O’Connor Gymnasium. Cabrera saved his best for last.

With time winding down in the Division 2 Round of 16 against Dracut in Holyoke, Cabrera assessed the situation. The ball was in his hands and would remain there.

“I can take the responsibility of missing that shot,” Cabrera said. “Stepping up in big moments is something that I’m known for doing and I take pride in doing. In that game I was feeling it. I knew our season wasn’t going to end that early. I was gonna make sure of it. If I’ve got the city behind my back, I can do whatever.”

He came over a screen and pulled up with two seconds remaining. After the shot went down, his first instinct wasn’t to celebrate, but to get back on defense. Dracut called timeout and couldn’t put up a shot.

Cabrera found Maldonado first on the court.

“Coach Bags (Maldonado), that’s family to me. When I look at Bags I think of another father figure, another older brother. He taught me so much about life and not just the game of basketball… how to go about things as a man, not a young kid,” Cabrera said. “He knows everything I was going through. I couldn’t do what I did with a different coach.”

Then, like after every game, he met with his father. Wilvaldo Cabrera couldn’t say much. He held his son close.

“Me and him, we don’t say a lot of words to each other when it comes to things like that,” Jael Cabrera said. “When we embrace each other, we know what it means.”

FIRST TEAM ALL-STARS

Nate Breault, senior, Granby

Jael Cabrera, senior, Holyoke

Jacob Cancel, senior, Northampton

Andrew Ciaglo, senior, Hopkins Academy

Isa Castro McCauley, senior, Amherst

Carter Daughdrill, senior, Easthampton

Colin Earle, senior, Hopkins Academy

Roel Figueroa, junior, Holyoke

Ryan Gaughan, senior, Granby

Marshall Ingram, junior, Smith Vocational

Tyler McDonald, sophomore, Belchertown

Colin Quinn, junior, South Hadley

Dylan Rohan, sophomore, Hampshire

Nate Sajdak, senior, Belchertown

Ben Sledzieski, junior, Northampton

Griffin Smiarowski, junior, Smith Academy

Evan Stewart, senior, Amherst

Iain Spearance, senior, Frontier

Joe Thomson, junior, Frontier

SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS

Leo Balboni, senior, Gateway

Joey Bianco, senior, Belchertown

Kiernan Corish, senior, Belchertown

Chandler Correia, senior, Smith Vcoational

Tyler Dubreuil, senior, Frontier

Sameer Hanafi, junior, Easthampton

Riley Intrator, junior, Smith Academy

Nate Kelleher-Mochak, senior, Northampton

Dylan Martin, senior, Frontier

Chase Mathers, junior, South Hadley

Kelvin Perez, junior, Northampton

Liam Quinn, senior, South Hadley

Zayd Sadiq, senior, Amherst

Cam Wade, junior, Hopkins Academy

Carter White, junior, Granby

Cody West, junior, Hopkins Academy

Brandon Wishart, senior, Granby

HONORABLE MENTION

Henry Audette, junior, Belchertown

Cole Bosvert, junior, Smith Vocational

Carson Boscher, senior, Belchertown

Patrick Boyden, senior, Frontier

James Fitzgibbons, sophomore, Hopkins Academy

Wyatt Jeffress, senior, Smith Academy

Samuel Kalman, junior, Amherst

Ryan Keach, senior, Gateway

Jack Kelleher-Mochak, senior, Northampton

Luke Kraus, senior, Hampshire

Robert L’Abbee, junior, Granby

Mateo Navarro, junior, Easthampton

Will Rukakoski, sernior, Hampshire

Jayden Santiago-Lopez, junior, Gateway

Tyler Sudbury, senior, Granby

Connor Tobin, senior, Northampton

Edward Wykowski, junior, South Hadley

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