The shot was high, looping, a rainbow. Alesi Mingo, a Newark East Side guard, launched it just before the end of the third quarter.
It went in at the buzzer.
It looked like a 3-pointer. The officials went back and ruled it a 2-pointer. It didn’t really matter. East Side was winning by too much, anyway—had, all game, been winning by too much.
No. 8 seed Newark East Side vanquished No. 5 Westfield on Saturday, 63–44, in the North 2, Group 4 semifinals. The Red Raiders controlled the game from start to finish, their 3-point barrage relentlessly hammering the Blue Devils. They scarcely missed shots, either open or contested.
“They beat us in pretty much every facet offensively,” Westfield head coach James McKeon said. “They didn’t miss.”
East Side’s blistering tempo overwhelmed Westfield, leaving the Blue Devils flustered as they fell behind 12–3 early and then 23–6 in the second quarter. The Red Raiders crumpled the Westfield defense. A rash of turnovers battered Westfield, the ball slipping from Blue Devil hands as if slicked with grease.
“We knew their tempo was their strategy,” McKeon said. “That’s what they do. We just had too many big waves of stagnant offense.”
The Blue Devils, unsettled early, eventually adjusted to the rhythm. They entered halftime trailing only 29–22, riding a wave of momentum. But that wave quickly petered out. East Side hit a 3-pointer right out of halftime and crushed Westfield with an 8–0 run.
The Red Raiders led by 17 points at the end of the third quarter and maintained their pace until the end. Westfield’s total of 44 points was its lowest since its Dec. 22 game against Elizabeth, the fourth game of the season.
Amir Abdullah led East Side with 20 points and 5 assists. Sutan Fitzpatrick followed with 15 points and 6 rebounds.
“I wish there was one more,” McKeon said. “But East Side had the better day.”
Shane Sheehan had a double-double for Westfield, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. His dunks galvanized the crowd; his 3-pointers blunted East Side’s unstoppable storm.
Theo Sica added 11 points, and Tyshawn Pearson scored 10. TJ Halloran scored 7 points and had 5 assists. “That’s the beauty of our team—guys step up,” McKeon said. “We don’t need to rely on one guy.”
East Side advanced to the sectional championship, where it will face No. 2 seed Linden. Westfield, after taking its third consecutive trip to the sectional semifinals (exempting the COVID year), finished 17-10 (4-6 UCC Watchung).
The Blue Devils made a remarkable turnaround after a gloomy start to the season. They began with three losses in four games. Then they flipped things, ripping off multiple five-game win streaks and eventually earning another sectional semifinal berth.
It seemed, briefly, that Westfield was going to shoulder aside East Side and reach the sectional championship. Coming out of halftime, the margin was 7 points, the stands were rocking, momentum was flowing. Halloran sat on the bench just before the start of the half, leaning forward, clutching a towel, staring out at nothing in particular—steeling himself, it seemed, for a comeback.
But East Side waved away the comeback. The Red Raiders sank 3-pointers with the ease most people display when buttering bread. Suddenly the gap between the teams gaped. Hope of a comeback vanished.
“They got the better of us today,” McKeon said. “And it’s unfortunate because there’s a special group of guys that are in that locker room.”
Then he walked to that locker room—through the door, up the stairs, down the hall—to be with those guys.
Written by Michael Liebermann
Live tweeting by Lucas Hubner
