The wide expanse of the gym echoes with energy. Union’s home crowd and cheerleaders pack their side of the stands. With five minutes left in the game, chants fly and pom-poms shimmer in the dimly-lit gymnasium, dominating the shouts of Westfield’s small group of loyal fans. Except Westfield has the advantage; they are up seven points, and junior Zach Epp dribbles up the court. He passes to fellow junior Tyshawn Pearson, well outside on the left wing. Junior Enzo Ferrero inches up towards the top of the 3-point arc. He sets a pick on Epp’s defender as Epp streaks past to the right, approaching the basket with speed. Pearson lets it fly. Epp launches into the air and catches the ball, then slams it down to complete the beautiful sequence. Every Westfield player leaps up off their feet, roaring with excitement.
However, it was only two points. They were up by just nine, and there were five minutes left to play. The Farmers knew this, and began to mount their comeback. An immediate midrange jumper negated Epp’s spectacular basket and a quick change of possession resulted in a Union 3-pointer. 49-45 Westfield. Nonetheless, the Blue Devils maintained their composure. Union would not score again, and Westfield would ultimately come away with the win, 54-45.
The first quarter saw a slow start for the Blue Devils. They were down for the majority of the time until a 3-pointer from Epp tied the score at 10, where it would remain until the end of the quarter.
Going into the second, Westfield was ready to make a run. However, even after scores from senior captain Shane Sheehan, Pearson and sophomore Max MacEacheron, the game was still tied at 18. Then the run started. Head coach James McKeon said, “I think we took advantage of what they gave us. I thought we moved the ball well; in the second quarter, the guys off the bench sparked us. It wasn’t so much the so-called starters that always do well, but the guys that came off [the bench], three or four of them came off and gave us good minutes. Max hit a bunch of shots, and it opened up for other people to get shots; that gets Epp in the lane and Enzo making shots.”
Westfield was firing on all cylinders, knocking down most of their shots late in the second quarter. One of the biggest contributors was MacEacheron, hitting two 3-pointers to give Westfield a 29-18 lead with a minute left in the second quarter. Looking back on Westfield’s adjustments, MacEacheron said, “We had a much better intensity and we really wanted to win that game, so I think it helped us hit more shots.”
Westfield went on an 8-0 run to take the lead to 26-18. A last-second putback layup to end the quarter from junior Will Kirby brought the score to 31-20.
“I think we could have been a little bit cleaner of course, but we shared the basketball in the second to get that lead and we needed it because they came out hot in the third,” said McKeon.
Coming out of the half, Union was motivated to cut down the 11-point lead that Westfield built throughout the first two quarters. After four straight possessions with points and aggressive defense that forced turnovers, the Farmers had cut the Blue Devils’ lead to two halfway through the third. Despite Union’s building momentum, Pearson remained unfazed, draining a 3-pointer to put the Blue Devils up five points with three minutes to play.
Two minutes later, after Union added three points to their score with free throws, Pearson continued to have an impact by stealing the ball from a Union guard and taking it all the way back for an and-1 layup. Though Pearson and Westfield were playing well, Union’s best player, Trevor Whitaker, scored a game-high 21 points in Union’s loss with most of them coming in the third quarter. Whitaker has averaged 26 points over his last 4 games, making him Westfield’s number-one focus going into the matchup.
“He’s young. So earlier in the season, he wasn’t really doing much and as of probably the last six games, he’s been doing really well. So it was a focus to [guard] him. We had hands in his face; he’s [still] making jump shots. We knew what we were getting into because he’s been playing really well,” said Mckeon regarding Westfield’s mindset going into the game.
Epp finished the quarter strong by hitting a 3-pointer to increase Westfield’s lead to eight, giving the Blue Devils a lot of momentum going into the fourth quarter. “Coming out of the half we were a little slow but we were able to regroup. Union’s a tough team with a lot of energy and we responded and bounced back,” said Epp, who led Westfield in scoring with 14 points.
The second half was extremely intense, with emotions flaring on both sides. Multiple times, play had to be stopped to break up players before anything happened. “I love every second of it. It’s exactly what I expected. I wish it happened sooner,” said McKeon, regarding his players’ passion in the second half.
As for Epp’s 3-pointer to end the third, McKeon said it was hugely important to their success: “It was a game of runs and we handled it. We hit a big shot… And that kind of solidified that we were calm… Hitting that one was big for the confidence of the team. And then I think we picked our level of play up from there as well.”
The fourth quarter, of course, was highlighted by Pearson’s connection with Epp on the alley-oop, and Westfield took the win in one of their better-played games all year.
The Blue Devils will play Monroe at home on Monday, where they’ll look to get back to .500 for the first time since the season opener.
