Third quarter, Westfield leads by two. They approach the Hillsborough basket on offense. A slow first half had the Blue Devils in great need of an offensive spark. A few passes and the ball reached senior captain Shane Sheehan right near the basket. He leaps up, and a Raider defender leaps up with him. A mistake on his part. Sheehan meets the contact midair and does not stop moving as he plunges the ball into the basket. Players on the bench and fans in the stands jump to their feet, ecstatic at the highlight play, one of Sheehan’s best of the season. They found the spark they needed.
This play helped fuel a 20-5 Westfield run that spanned the third and fourth quarters and helped them leave the home gym victorious. The Blue Devils’ 46-31 win over Hillsborough marked one of their best performances of the season. The weak offense in the first half kept their final score low, but suffocating defense kept the Raiders even lower. Westfield’s strong run in the second half allowed them to run away from Hillsborough, who was playing defeatedly well before the final whistle.
Westfield held Hillsborough to 11 first-half points in a strong zone defense. Head coach James McKeon said, “I think we’ve moved well; our hands were active. We did our jobs right. That’s something that we preached before the game: everybody do their job and if the five guys are doing it together, good things are gonna happen. Our defense definitely led the way today.”
Only scoring 17 points of their own in the first half, Westfield was propelled by scores from juniors Enzo Ferrero, Farid Habayeb and Tyshawn Pearson, along with Sheehan and sophomore Connor Whelan. This wide variety of scorers showed Westfield’s ability to share the ball. A last-second putback layup from junior Will Kirby brought Westfield up 6 points, going into halftime 17-11.
Coming into the third quarter, the Blue Devils allowed two straight 3-pointers from the Raiders. It was reminiscent of other third quarters in which Westfield could not match their opponent’s energy. However, this was not the case. This time, the very opposite happened, very much due to highlight plays such as Sheehan’s dunk, along with an acrobatic and-1 layup from Pearson late in the third. Pearson was the leading scorer with 16 points. Coming into the third quarter, it is “0-0. Every half, we got to come out with the energy, no turnovers, because that’s a big thing with us,” he said.
McKeon said, “It finally happened this way. We’ve seen it the other way too many times.”
Westfield’s 20-5 run brought the score to 37-22 with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter. It was fueled by scoring from Sheehan and Pearson, along with sophomore Jake Russell, who contributed with multiple steals and fast-break points. Hillsborough would not make a dent in the lead for the rest of the game. Unlike other games for Westfield this season, there was a severe lack of 3-point shooting from both teams. McKeon said that it was “old school basketball. Be physical. I think we were the toughest team out there. And I think that’s why we are victorious today. It’s something that they guys bought into. We didn’t just settle. [Our 3-point shooting] wasn’t falling.”
He mentioned how after the two 3-pointers they let up in the third quarter, his players “went on a run. I think they understood it. We can be the team we need to be and don’t have to just throw it up. If it’s good, it’s good. If not, I think it’s impressive to win in 2024 with just owning the paint. So I’m proud of the guys.”
Hillsborough was 10-4 coming into this matchup, so a win over them for the 6-9 Blue Devils bodes well for their future. McKeon said, “It’s not over. It’s a long season. So this is a huge win for us and progressing to where we want to go because this shows what we’re capable of doing.”
Westfield takes on Oratory Prep at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Arthur L. Johnson High School.
“Every game is a must win. We have to win these games to get into states,” said Russell.
