Hudson’s boost flows into another Ridley win

RIDLEY TWP. — 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.

The separation was provided by Hudson, who had four points in nine games entering Friday. He matched that by hitting a mid-range jumper and knocking down a pull-up from 18 feet. He also did the more expected dirty work, grabbing five rebounds and blocking a shot.

“Jalen, he’s a real good energy player,” forward Enoch Clark said. “He’s a person that gives us energy. He encourages us, he really gives us that spark to give us that energy and he’s a great teammate.”

“It was a big boost for Jalen to come in and knock those shots down,” said guard Nasir Santiago. “We weren’t really expecting him to make those shots, but when those shots fall, it gives a huge spark because he’s a great player overall.”

Add a Tillery runner and Ridley turned a 13-12 edge into a 25-15 bump at half.

The third-quarter move was assembled by Santiago and Clark. The latter dominated the post battle with Upper Darby’s Kymir Roper. Though a rugged shooting day at 5-for-17, Clark tallied 16 points and 13 rebounds, and his low-post defense limited Roper to four points before he fouled out.

“I knew from the beginning that he was going to be a physical player and he was going to try to get in my head,” Clark said of Roper. “My whole goal was to not let anything get in my head, just to play my game.”

Santiago did the same on the perimeter, where he’s developed into a ball-handling option to spell Malachi Williams. Santiago scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the first half, needing just nine field-goal attempts. While Ridley (12-5, 7-5) committed 23 turnovers and struggled to nurse its lead, Santiago struck the right balance with drives to the glass and constant feeding of Clark. It also led to Ridley attempting just four 3-pointers.

“We’re not a jump-shooting team,” Santiago said. “We look forward to going into the paint, being really aggressive and we’ve got to attack the rim. If not, we’ve got to rely on the shooters, but if they’re not making shots, we have to rely on our big man and hope he’s knocking down shots.”

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