Ridley’s Enoch Clark puts a shot up in the third quarter against Upper Darby. Clark scored 16 points as the Green Raiders won their seventh straight game, 57-54. (Pete Bannan/Digital First Media)
By Matthew DeGeorge
The shift change queuing on the Ridley bench didn’t seem to make sense at first glance.
Midway through a stop-start second quarter, with Ridley leading Upper Darby by one, Ridley coach Kevin Kelly opted for a hockey-style line change — four up from the bench, four starters to the pine. With offensive execution in desperately short supply, a change of pace might do the trick.
In came undersized big Jalen Hudson, along with reserve guards Samir Neal and Aaron Tillery. And the momentum of the game changed with them.
Ridley scored 12 of the final 13 points of the half and stretched the lead as wide as 13 in the fourth before holding on to topple Upper Darby, 57-54, and earn their seventh straight win.