Going into the locker room at halftime, Westfield’s players’ heads hung low. However, that would quickly change from the first whistle of the third quarter, courtesy of Shane Sheehan. Sheehan contributed Westfield’s first 7 points of the second half and its first lead of the game.
Senior co-captain Theo Sica, who finished the game with a team-high 17 points, said, “We wanted to get Shane going.” And that is exactly what the Blue Devils did. The energy erupted once Sheehan got hit below the basket but was able to finish strong through contact and convert on the free throw as well.
This was all the Blue Devils needed to turn the game around in their favor. Westfield outscored the Rams 17–2 in the third quarter.
The first half was a completely different story as Westfield had turnover after turnover and OP took advantage of Westfield’s mishaps with easy buckets. Westfield went down early despite the only spark coming from Tyshawn Pearson who was taking care of business on the defensive end. Pearson had two key steals that led to breakaway layups on the offensive end of the floor to keep the Blue Devils within single digits of the Rams.
Despite the momentum-boosting moments, Westfield found itself trailing by 5 points at the end of the second quarter. “We played down to our competition in the first half,” head coach James McKeon said. “We were settling, the first shot is not always the best one.”
Westfield truly turned defense into offense in the second half, which was one of the Blue Devils’ main goals to propel them to a victory. By the end of the day Westfield finished with 16 steals, which granted the Blue Devils transition buckets.
Westfield had all the momentum going into the fourth quarter. On a hard drive to the rim, Sica put an OP defender in a spin cycle causing him to fall to the floor, giving Sica the lay-in. The Blue Devils had the skills to pull past this team with ease, but did not demonstrate it until the second half. McKeon said, “We have to show up and play all four quarters.”
At halftime, McKeon told his team, “We have to worry about us.”
“We were worried about them and since we were, we played their style of play. The second half was indicative of them playing Westfield basketball,” said Mckeon.
Westfield was able to hold the Rams to only 18 points in the second half. Even though OP scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, it would not be enough to come back as Westfield came out on top with an 11-point victory, winning 50–39.
One key contributor for the Blue Devils was senior co-captain TJ Halloran. Halloran showed versatility throughout the entire game, putting in work on both the offensive and defensive end. He finished with 10 points and 4 steals on the day.
Westfield improved its record to 8-4 and will be taking on Union Catholic at Kean University this Sunday. The Blue Devils look to knock off the Vikings after suffering a defeat to UC earlier this season.
