With 4:45 left in the first quarter, senior captain Tyshawn Pearson scored a flashy layup and drew a foul from the defender. After completing the three-point play by drilling the free throw, Westfields lead over Roselle Catholic grew to 7-0. While the Blue Devils came out hot, Roselle Catholic being the 2nd ranked team in the state according to maxpreps.com, they were sure to punch back. As it turned out, the Lion’s second-half rally would be too much for Westfield to handle. Roselle Catholic ended up pulling away and winning 67-58.
Westfields first half performance was fueled by the impressive shooting and defense from multiple players on the Blue Devils lineup. Pearson, along with seniors Zach Epp, Will Kirby, and Enzo Ferrero all contributed heavily to the Blue Devils success. Additionally, juniors Max MacEacheron and Jake Russell shot lights out. Pearson finished with 12 points on the game while MacEacheron followed close behind with 11 points.
Going into halftime, the Blue Devils were winning 34-20 and showed no signs of slowing down. However, Roselle Catholic started capitalizing on Westfield’s turnovers in the second half and eventually took control of the game.
Westfield head coach, James McKeon, said “Turnovers were the problem. They sped us up a bit, we made some bad long passes. That’s probably what it came down to at the end of the day. We didn’t handle the pressure as well as we could have.”
The Roselle Catholic defense was able to record 14 steals, most of them coming in the second half. Kirby said, “We had way too many turnovers and we were playing at their speed instead of slowing down at a speed that we are comfortable at. They were able to turn our turnovers into easy buckets and that was really our demise.”
The game drew notable attention from basketball fans and the media alike, as NBA Sixth Man of the Year and Roselle Catholic alum, Naz Reid, was in attendance and had his jersey retired during half time. NBA stars including Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, and Rudy Gobert were also in attendance to support Reid during his ceremony.
With the loss against Roselle Catholic, the Blue Devils moved to 6-6 on the season. They will look to get back in the win column when they play Union on January 21st at 4 p.m. Epp said, “We need to focus on slowing the game down, both physically and mentally, in order to close out games. It’s about trusting the work we’ve put in during practice and relying on each other as a team.”
