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Sports

Harriton Can't Overcome Second-Quarter Slump

The Rams and Ridley exchanged leads eight times in the first quarter.

The time is arriving, Sunday to be exact. has one more regular-season game left, before the Rams play schools their own size, in the PIAA District 1 Class AAA playoffs. For now, it’s rough nights like the one Harriton experienced against Central League power Ridley on Tuesday night at Harriton.

What started out competitive—eight lead changes in the first quarter—spiraled out of control for the Rams, which fell to Ridley, 54-40. The defeat set Harriton back to 10-11 overall and 7-8 in the Central League, while the surging Green Raiders improved to 12-8 and 10-5 in the league.

Harriton was led by Samir Muhammad’s team-high 14 points, while Matt Sherman knocked down seven and Marquis Baker added six. Ridley was paced by Shawn Church, arguably the Central League’s best player, who scored a team-high 23 points, with 11 points from Tom Manning and 10 from Kevin Garling.

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“Ridley did a real good job and Church is unbelievable, we knew that, but every mistake we made, they took advantage of and punished us,” Rams’ coach Jesse Rappaport said. “When Ridley made its run, I thought the guys started to get down and frustrated a little. But it was good to see Samir make shots and finish. He hadn’t scored the previous two games.”

The game had a wild start. Neither team was willing to budge. Ridley would score, Harriton would answer. The Rams would knock down a three-point shot, Ridley would respond in kind with a trey of its own. One punched, the other team counterpunched. And so it went for the first eight minutes, two teams you’d think were locked in a death struggle.

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They exchanged leads eight times, before the Green Raiders took the lead for good, 15-14 at the end of the quarter.

The frenetic pace seemed to take more out of the Rams, who like to play at that tempo, than it did the more deliberate Green Raiders, who prefer a slower pace.

“We were with them the first quarter and they have the best player in the league,” Harriton junior forward Ryan Kelly said. “The frustrating thing is we just came apart. ... We had a bad practice on Monday and that followed into tonight’s game.”

A 22-4 second-quarter Ridley run changed the course of the game. Harriton struggled, while the Green Raiders started nailing three-point shots. A pair of treys by Manning gave Ridley a 28-19 lead and the closest the Rams would come from there was 41-29 late in the third quarter.

“Harriton is a nice team, they’re athletic and they can all drive to the basket,” Ridley coach Keith Heinerichs said. “I can definitely see them doing something in the Class AAA playoffs. They can play with some people.”

Harriton closes the week hosting Strath Haven at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night and then the Rams will wait to see where they’re seeded in the District 1 Class AAA playoffs on Sunday.

“Now is the time we all need to focus and pick things up,” Rappaport said. “We’ll try to focus on our strengths.”

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