In the last four minutes of the fourth quarter, nobody in the WHS gym was quiet. Sophomore Talan Lewis drove in for two straight layups. Senior Jared Lehner buried a three from the corner. Free throws followed. After trailing for three quarters, the Blue Devils surged, cutting the deficit to 55-58 — until Union’s four free throws in the final nine seconds cut the comeback short, leaving Westfield just out of reach in a 55-62 loss on their senior day.
“Defense is where we struggled,” Lehner explained. “Going down by more than 10 once in the second quarter, and defense is where we’re gonna win games. We try to keep them under 50 every game. That’s our goal, and we didn’t build on it tonight.”
Senior tri-captain Jake Russell, who had 13 total points — 11 of which were from made free throws — agreed and said, “We turned the ball over too much, and we didn’t hit timely shots, which is important.”
Despite the Blue Devils’ all-out effort, they trailed Union throughout the game, never able to take the lead. While the last four minutes of the fourth quarter showed Westfield’s true potential and drive, it was sadly not enough to take control of the score. Head coach James McKeon said, “If we play that way the whole time, we win by double figures. It’s kind of our MO this year; we just pick and choose when we want to play desperately.”
The loss against Union marked another challenge in Westfield’s daunting schedule. The Farmers entered the game 11-1 on the season and riding a seven-game winning streak. Westfield has already faced multiple ranked opponents, including No. 1 Plainfield and No. 7 Linden as of Jan. 18. As the season continues, the Blue Devils will look to use these tough matchups as preparation for challenges ahead.
Although the end result of the game was not what the Blue Devils wanted, they still had things to be proud of. “During the last four minutes of the game, I thought we showed great effort. We were playing the lanes well, and everything was going great for us,” said Lehner.
Westfield knew that even though senior day adds a bit of pressure, they could not let it cloud their mindset; they still had to play their game like it was any other day. Lehner said, “It’s the day that the seniors and I get celebrated, but we had to think of it as another game. Just play our hearts out and leave everything out there on the floor.”
“It can bring you down and make you a little loose, but I think we handled it well,” said McKeon. “It’s nice to celebrate the seniors before the game. Overall, it was a good day. Not a good outcome, but a good day.”
The Blue Devils plan to use this loss as motivation and hope to bounce back on Tuesday at home against the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raiders at 5:30 p.m. Russell said, “We’re going to be pumped up. We’re ready to keep the energy and morale high.”
