Following head coach Jim McKeon’s 100th win in the program on Feb. 1, the Blue Devils were quickly back in action the following night facing Ridge at Kean University.
Westfield passed McKeon’s milestone with a 52-47 win over Linden. Senior tri-captain Zach Epp said, “For me to be a part of his 100 wins is so cool. McKeon is a great coach. He teaches us so many lessons on and off the court. He has been a mentor for me and the team. This is a great achievement for him and it shows what he can do as a coach and a person overall.”
Since McKeon started coaching in 2018, he has not only built up the program, but also formed new relationships that have transformed his coaching experience. McKeon said, “It’s really nice to see everyone cheering and supporting me, but It’s just another game. I want more than 100 wins, I want the kids to be remembered forever in the banner and that’s the goal for everything. It shows the tone for what we have done for a long time. The best part about it is getting texts from guys who played in 2018 that started this. You know you are doing something special when they still keep in contact.”
Although the Blue Devils gained another win against Ridge, it may not have been their best performance. Senior tri-captain Enzo Ferrero said, “I don’t think we played up to the standards of what we wanted to today. Although we did win and we were able to pull it out, it wasn’t to the highest of our expectations. We didn’t execute everything to perfection, we could have done better.”
The back-and-forth scrappy plays led to various fouls by the Westfield defense. This opened the doors for Ridge to get easy points at the free throw line, leading to Westfield never being able to establish a clear-cut lead.
Epp described the team’s performance as “mediocre,” saying, “We started out a little bit slow. We knew Ridge would be a tough and organized team but we tried to carry on the things we learned from Union County.”
The first half closed out tied 28-28. As the third quarter went into play, neither team was able to break the tight scoring game, keeping the crowd on their toes. Ferrero said “I don’t think we kept our composure very well. I think we turned it over in crunch time and we could do a better job taking care of the ball.”
Once the clock struck six minutes in the fourth quarter, Ferrero and junior Max MacEacheron both hit back-to-back threes allowing the Blue Devils to break away from this tied game. McKeon said, “It set the tone and brought us to seven and we never looked back.”
Westfield closed out the game taking home the 61-53 win. McKeon said, “I feel good that we are winning. We are making it more difficult than we have to but at the end of the day we are getting the job done. We just have to be better because counties and states are right around the corner.”
Going into this week, the Blue Devils will face Roselle Catholic on Thursday hoping to redeem themselves after a tough 67-58 loss earlier this season. As this is Westfield’s second to last regular season game, Ferrero said, “Taking this last week into the rest of the year, Elizabeth we beat, Plainfield we played pretty well, and Linden we beat. Counties and states will mean a lot for us. We need to keep our composure and take these games down to the fourth quarter.”
