After a huge win over Union in their season opener, the basketball team sought to continue their success in their home opener against Union Catholic. However, Union Catholic’s impressive shooting and relentless defense proved to be too much for the Blue Devils, as Union Catholic won the game 71-45.
While the outcome wasn’t what they had hoped for, Westfield managed to stay in the game throughout the first three quarters, almost always staying within ten points of Union Catholic. Senior captain Zach Epp led the charge for the Blue Devils, scoring 13 points and snagging 3 rebounds and a block. Senior captain Enzo Ferraro and junior Jake Russell also put up 8 points each. Both players had big 3-pointers during the game. Ferrero said, “I think rebounding was a big problem. They out rebounded us by a lot. We need to work on boxing out better and being able to get from defense to offense more efficiently.”
Westfields struggle to out-rebound Union Catholic was made difficult by Union Catholic’s big man, senior Yaw Ansong. The 7-foot-tall forward snagged 174 rebounds last year for Union Catholic. While Westfield lacked a height advantage in this game, they still battled back and managed to grab 28 rebounds, led by junior Connor Whelan. Senior Will Kirby said, “We struggled shooting and getting rebounds. The 7 footer helps, but he wasn’t the main issue today. We fought hard but needed to play better team defense and make our shots when we had the opportunity.”
Heading into the 4th quarter, the Blue Devils only trailed 51-41. However, late in the 4th quarter Union Catholic hit several 3-pointers and had multiple 3-point plays following a layup and a foul from Westfield. Head coach Jim Mckeon said, “We gave up too many And 1’s. You have to be pretty good on that day to beat a top-10 team in the state. We were three and a half quarters in and that’s where their run came in and it happened quickly. The guys played as hard as they could and that’s all I ask, execution will come as the season goes on and hopefully, we will get to see them 2 or 3 more times.”
The Blue Devils will look to get back on track against Rahway on December 23 at 1:30 p.m. Mckeon said, “We are going to do the same thing we always do, compete against ourselves. We are playing our game. We can’t play the other team’s game.”
