“It was absolutely embarrassing the way we played today,” Westfield head coach James McKeon said referring to his team’s performance Thursday evening against the Elizabeth Minutemen. The Blue Devils fell to Elizabeth by a final score of 57–33, dropping to an overall record of 1-3 and conference record of 0-3.
The first few minutes from tip-off were a clear indication of how the rest of the game would go. Westfield had trouble finding the bottom of the basket and errant offensive mistakes led to Minutemen transition layups. The Blue Devils’ first points of the game came with just over three minutes left in the first quarter on a TJ Halloran layup which ended a 6–0 Elizabeth run.
For Westfield, hopes were still high at the end of the first quarter and in the opening minutes of the second quarter. A Shane Sheehan and-one followed by a beautiful pass from Halloran to Tyshawn Pearson in the lane for a quick bucket trimmed the lead to 13–9 in favor of Elizabeth.
However, at this point of the game, this was the closest the score would be. The stout Minutemen defense caused additional Blue Devil turnovers which led to non-contested baskets on the other end of the floor for Elizabeth.
“When the pressure comes, we just gotta stay in control and not panic,” said Sheehan. He also added that the team must retain its trust in the coaches “because it works.”
Another achilles heel for Westfield throughout the game and especially in the second quarter was controlling the glass. On top of the turnovers, Westfield was unable to corral several rebounds leading to second chance points for Elizabeth. After nailing consecutive three-point field goals, Elizabeth led 29–13 at the half.
Coming into the second half on a fresh slate, Westfield looked to develop an offensive rhythm and climb its way back into the game one possession at a time. Nevertheless, the Blue Devils turned over the ball on offense not even 30 seconds into the third quarter. Like how they executed all game long, Elizabeth took advantage of Westfield’s mistakes and converted on an and-one layup in transition.
“We just have to be cleaner. When we play and share the ball we win,” McKeon said. “When we turn the ball over 20 plus times we lose. It’s not rocket science.”
One positive note for the Blue Devils is that outscored Elizabeth 9–7 in the third quarter and cut the deficit to 36–22. Westfield was able to gather some sort of rhythm offensively as they strung together quality ball movement and were willing to continue to fight.
However, just as it seemed that a spark was about to ignite for Westfield, this spark was quickly extinguished after back-to-back-to-back turnovers to start off the fourth quarter. The Minutemen exploited Westfield’s errors and drained numerous three-point field goals around the perimeter to officially put the game out of reach.
As the final buzzer sounded, heads hung low on the Westfield side as the Blue Devils suffered a gut-wrenching 57–33 defeat. Pearson led all Blue Devils scoring with 11 points and Halloran trailed just behind him with 10 points. Pearson also led Westfield in steals as he tallied three on the day.
Westfield’s chance of redemption and to turn the season around will come this following week as the boys take on Colonia, Tuesday afternoon at Colonia High School. Confidence still remains high for Westfield as they look to upset the reigning North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 state champions.
Sheehan said, “We’ll be back. We’re gonna bounce back.”
