Ridley’s ‘good era’ ends in tough loss to Parkland

READING >> Mike Snyder’s voice could be heard down the hall at Reading High School’s Geigle Complex Wednesday night.

He wasn’t yelling at his Ridley charges, per se. But for one last convocation of his Green Raiders, Snyder needed to get a point across.

Ridley had done all it could against District 11 champion Parkland, dropping a 54-50 decision in the second round of the PIAA Class AAAA tournament against one of the popular championship dark-horse picks.

Snyder wanted them to know, by whatever decibel level necessary, that save for a bounce here or there that was out of their control, the Green Raiders did all they could … in this game, this season, and for six seniors, their storied careers.

Ridley’s season ends at 27-3, a program record for wins. They set the school mark for victories in consecutive seasons (49), collecting back-to-back Central League titles. Two of the Green Raiders’ three senior captains, Brett Foster and Julian Wing, each marked his 112th game in a Ridley jersey Wednesday night, qualifying for three state tournament appearances in four years.

However the ride eventually ended, be it Wednesday in Reading or down the road, Snyder wouldn’t have soured his final address to the team with gripes.

“It was a good era with them playing,” Snyder said. “They were there since their eighth-grade year working out with us. I said, ‘All your hard work and dedication paid off. You really put Ridley on the map.’”

Wednesday typified the scrappy attitude that has helped the Green Raiders ascend such heights. Parkland (27-3) controlled play throughout, taking the lead at 6-4 and never trailing again. But in the face of the Trojans’ twin Division I talents, Ridley never wavered.

The Green Raiders got to within 45-43 on a Wing triple with six minutes left, then watched Parkland rattle off six straight points to build the lead back to eight.

That’s the juncture at which they could’ve folded and slinked off, counting their many accolades. But Ridley fought back, starting with a Ryan Bollinger triple. Wing canned another trifecta, his fourth of the night on the way to 21 points, with 38 seconds left to cut the deficit to 52-50.

“It was tough to stay in the game,” Wing said. “… We just wanted to keep fighting, keep fighting. The seniors, we didn’t want to give up. We wanted to win this game. We kept fighting because we didn’t want our season to end.”

Julian Wing hits a 3. Ridley to within 20-15 https://t.co/EHRgP3WSew

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) March 10, 2016

With Parkland faltering at the line, Ridley got a look to tie, but Liam Thompson’s effort from the left corner rimmed out, allowing the Trojans to survive and advance to the quarterfinals against District 12 champion Roman Catholic, a 60-41 winner over Central Bucks West.

As Snyder alluded to afterward, the matchups were just too tilted in Parkland’s favor. Kyle Stout, bound for Lafayette, scored 10 of his team-best 18 points in the third quarter, stretching the lead as wide as six. He and Sam Iorio, a junior with several Division I offers who supplied 15 points, did the damage early. The two 6-foot-6 twins each corralled nine rebounds, part of Parkland’s 35-28 edge on the glass, including 12-6 on offensive boards.

“It’s very tough, because in our rotations, we had to rotate over to the 3-point shooter, and a couple of times we were late,” Thompson said. “Just having that outside shooting along with their height, it’s tough to guard.”

But Ridley adjusted, closing out more resolutely and holding that duo to just one point in the final quarter. Enter Kenny Yeboah, who was quiet offensively but operated the high-low game adeptly, kicking out to shooters when Ridley doubled in the post.

“That definitely surprised me,” Yeboah said of the tactic. “That was the first time a team did that this year, so that was mind-blowing. I just tried to complement that, just go with the flow and pass it out to Kyle and Sam to shoot 3s.”

When Ridley zigged by curtailing the help defense in the fourth, Yeboah zagged, unleashing a pair of power moves to the hoop for four of his six points.

The Green Raiders, meanwhile, lived by the 3-pointer. They hoisted up 26 attempts, hitting 10 (38.5 percent). With Foster, who compiled 10 points and five assists, less able to get to the basket thanks to Parkland’s length, the gameplan was to shoot over them.

“We were trying to drive more, kick out for some 3s,” Snyder said. “We figured it’s going to be tough to finish because they had some length. So even though (Foster) beat his guy at the point of attack, they still had 6-6 in there waiting, another 6-6 waiting. We figured if we could draw them and kick, we could get some open 3s. We hit 10, and if we were going to be able to beat them, that’s how we were going to do it.”

The Green Raiders made up distance in the second quarter, attempting just one two-pointer and hitting four of nine looks from deep. Bollinger, who fouled out, hit three triples. Thompson knocked down a pair.

Those bounce-of-the-ball laments were all the disappointment Snyder mustered. Inches were all that separated Ridley from the quarterfinals, nothing compared to the miles his seniors had traversed.

As they left the locker room for the final time, the underclassmen lined the hallway, offering consolation and congratulations to the teary-eyed seniors. In the other direction, unspoken and implicit, was the transmission of a responsibility to the next crop, to learn and carry on from these leaders.

“I’m really proud of them for what they accomplished,” Snyder said. “They’re hard workers, and they worked as hard as they could and they got the fruits of what they’ve done.”