The shouts poured from the stands, urgent and insistent. “Shoot! Shoot!”
Drew Damesek, the senior making his first varsity start and now playing in the closing minutes of Westfield’s 68–46 rout of Plainfield, obliged. He squared up from 18 feet, raised the ball, released. The Westfield bench rose to its feet. Hands shot skyward in anticipation.
Damesek was already backpedaling.
A joyous cheer erupted from the stands as the ball sank through the net for Damesek’s first career varsity points. The managers at the end of the bench leaped up and down. Head coach James McKeon pumped his fist.
The points were Westfield’s last in a Senior Day victory. The Blue Devils (11-6, 4-6 UCC Watchung) steamrollered the Cardinals (3-14, 0-9 UCC Watchung) for the second time this season after a 42–27 road victory three weeks ago, regaining some gusto after losing close games recently to highly regarded conference foes Linden and Elizabeth (with a blowout win over Pope John sandwiched in between).
“Winning one is always good,” McKeon said. “You never want to lose back-to-back games. And we’ve preached that from day one. If you win, come back even stronger the next time. So we gotta push forward.”
Westfield also received a small boost from Peter Meixner, the senior co-captain whose first minutes and first start of the season arrived against Plainfield. Meixner has thus far languished on the bench because of injury, but his route to bigger minutes is solidifying after a few minutes and 2 points against the Cardinals.
“He’s been through a lot to be where he is,” McKeon said. “It’s exciting to get him back on the floor.”
Meixner’s return was timely. He came back just in time for Senior Day, an event that turned into a lively affair because of the game’s blowout nature. All 13 players stepped onto the court.
“It’s great to be out here on the court with my boys from day one,” Damesek said. “It was just an amazing feeling. I thought we all had fun. I thought we played great together.”
Billy Ryan joined Damesek in making his first career varsity start. Ryan, who had already played in 10 games this season, scored a career-high 9 points, including 5 early on to propel Westfield.
“I’m pretty speechless right now,” a beatific Ryan said. “I am pretty sad that it is Senior Day, but we got the win. That’s all that matters.”
Zach Epp led Westfield in scoring with 14 points, drilling four 3-pointers. TJ Halloran achieved a rare and astounding feat by collecting a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. He added 1 block and 2 steals in a statbook-stuffing performance. Theo Sica had 10 points.
Westfield controlled the game from the outset, leading 20–9 at the end of the first quarter after senior Zaire Carter drilled a three for his first points of the season. The Blue Devils, who, by the captains’ decision, started five seniors and gradually rolled out the rest during the first half, led 34–23 at halftime.
The Westfield side of the gym relaxed in the shade of a comfortable advantage. But then Plainfield reeled off a couple quick buckets, and the lead threatened to dip into single figures. The hum of relaxed conversation quickly leached away, replaced by a light edge of tension.
Westfield dismissed it with a 6-0 run. The game was never close again.
“We’re always talking about doing the good things and putting a four-quarter game together,” said McKeon, who also watched his team go scoreless for the first two-and-a-half minutes of the second quarter. “We didn’t do that today, but we’re always striving to get better.”
Plainfield shot a lot of threes. It made very few of them. The Cardinals, though, were indefatigable in their pursuit of offensive rebounds. “Even though they’re undersized,” McKeon said, “it’s one of the best rebounding teams that I’ve seen as a whole.”
Just not enough to stop Westfield.
Smooth and crisp ball movement helped Westfield early on. The Blue Devils drained open threes and made sharp backdoor cuts. Things changed briefly during that second-quarter scoring drought, which Shane Sheehan eventually remedied with a put-back at the rim. Sheehan also had 4 blocks, staring down a Plainfield player after one of them.
Westfield will now turn to Sunday’s 1 p.m. matchup against Summit at Arthur L. Johnson High School in the Investors Bank Showcase.
The Blue Devils appear poised to ride their wave of Senior Day momentum into the last couple games of the regular season.
“It’s a camaraderie you see build, and from a coach’s standpoint, to see that is great,” McKeon said. “And I think that’s why we’re successful on a night like this when there’s some distractions before the game. They stay focused and they’re so pumped for each other that good things happen for everybody.”
