Boys Basketball: Red-hot Ridley ready for North Penn in opener

On paper, the math seems simple. Ridley has won 11 games in a row on the way to the Central League regular-season and tournament championships. North Penn has won 11 games all season and narrowly snuck into the playoffs. So when the No. 4 and No. 29 seeds collide Friday night in the first round of the District One Class AAAA Tournament, the script seems clear-cut. But the added wrinkle comes with Knights’ hot form.

North Penn has won five of seven, resuscitating a season that stood at six wins as Ridley was climbing into the teens. It took a victory over Hatboro-Horsham last time out, powered by 10 3-pointers, to get the Knights sufficient bonus points to make the field. Somehow – and the logic escapes me – North Penn finished sixth in an eight-team Suburban One Continental (that’s a division, not a conference), yet still made the playoffs. (Paging, Chichester.) The Knights can shoot and have a handful of guards, like Matt Pickford, J.J. Melchior and Reece Udinski who can score. They have some height with 6-foot-6 Derek Heiserman and 6-foot-4 Ricky Johns.

But they face a tremendous team in Ridley. The Green Raiders’ only loss came to the team a seed ahead of them, Downingtown West, in the second half of a back-to-back. They’ve won 10 games over districts foes, including three in a row. They manhandled Conestoga, the 14 seed, by a 62-38 margin in the Central League title game Monday. Ridley is a team that, in the words of coach Mike Snyder, consistently makes “really good basketball plays.” Sounds like coachspeak, but consider the ways they can break teams down

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Fresh off cutting down the nets as Central League champions Monday, Kylon Hicks and Ridley are ready for the challenge of North Penn in the first round of the District One Class AAAA Tournament Friday. (Digital First Media/Robert J. Gurecki)