Last year, the Westfield boys basketball team earned its way to a strong 19-8 record and a conference record of 7-5. The Blue Devils were led by senior Sean Logan, who tallied over 450 points, 236 rebounds and a mind-boggling 179 blocks in his senior campaign. Logan now comes off the bench as a freshman at Davidson University.
“I don’t know if Sean [Logan] is a guy you can replace… we’re looking for multiple guys to pick up that slack, we’re not looking for one individual to try and be Sean,” said head coach James McKeon.
McKeon is entering his fifth year at Westfield as head coach and has already tallied 50 total wins. Westfield’s key returning players include two of its five starters from last year, seniors Pete Meixner and TJ Halloran, and one key contributor off the bench, senior Theo Sica. “They were important as juniors and they are going to be more important as the leaders of this team so that the young guys can learn from them,” said McKeon.
Meixner, the floor general for the Blue Devils, said, “Our goal this season is to win as many games as possible but ultimately to win our sectional championship. That’s what we are gunning for and we want it bad.”
Westfield tips off the season on Thursday, Dec. 15, as they take on Union at home. Other key matchups for the Blue Devils include a home-and-away series against Union Catholic and another two-game series against Scotch Plains-Fanwood.
“Winning game one is always a nice way to start off your season, especially against a rival of Union,” McKeon said. “It is also on our home floor which is nice; we always want to win games at our place.”
Two games the Blue Devils most certainly have circled on their schedules are on Jan. 3 and Jan. 19 against Linden and Elizabeth, respectively. Last season, the Blue Devils lost, 45–43, in heartbreaking fashion to Linden in the North 2, Group 4 semifinal round. Two weeks prior, Westfield fell short to Elizabeth, 44–43, in the Union County Tournament semifinals.
Along with the three-headed monster of seniors who will provide veteran experience, Westfield has six additional seniors who will be along for the ride this season. Senior Drew Damesek said, “During my senior campaign, I’m most looking forward to grinding every day at practice with my brothers. We have a lot of seniors on the team and I’ve played with all of them growing up through the last 12 years and I can’t wait to finish it off with the same crew.”
McKeon said that even though Roselle Catholic is no longer on the Blue Devils’ schedule, Westfield still plays in the toughest county in the entire state. Recently, Roselle Catholic, a perennial powerhouse in high school basketball that is ranked No. 1 in America by MaxPreps, announced that it will be playing in national showcase tournaments, rather than a traditional NJ conference schedule. Still, Roselle Catholic is eligible to play in the county tournament, according to McKeon.
Expectations are sky-high. “Our expectation is to get to a final, win a final,” McKeon said. “We know it takes hard work and we know we are in the toughest county in the entire state, and Group 4 is no slouch either. We are trying to build off previous years.”
