“We played together; we shared the basketball. It was nice that when we share the basketball, good things happen,” head coach James McKeon said.
Good things for Westfield certainly happened. The Blue Devils played their most complete and together game of the season as they knocked off the reigning North 2, Group 3 sectional champion, Colonia, in the Eric LeGrand Holiday Jubilee Tournament. Westfield handed the Patriots their first loss of the season. The Blue Devils now sit at 2-3.
The boys came out on fire following tip-off as senior guard Theo Sica scored the first 8 of Westfield’s 15 points as he drained two 3-pointers in that span. Sica went on to finish with a team-high 17 points.
“We all are starting to play more as a team figuring what each of us can do, and my teammates are able to recognize when I am in a position to score the ball,” Sica said.
However, Colonia was quick to strike back as freshman guard Aiden Derkack nailed consecutive 3-pointers of his own to trim the Blue Devils’ lead. At the end of the first quarter, Westfield led, 17–15.
Entering the second quarter, Westfield found itself in a hole. Unable to get the lid off the basket, the Blue Devils were scoreless through the first six minutes of the quarter. Back-to-back Shane Sheehan layups gave Westfield its only points of the second quarter.
Speaking on Sheehan’s high level of play, McKeon said, “He has shown what his potential can be. I think today it showed that we can rely on him a lot. We really focused on throwing it in the post to him. He is getting it. He got some time last year but he is really building off the minutes now,” said McKeon. Sheehan ended the game with 13 points and 4 rebounds.
Despite the temporary offensive struggles, the Westfield defense remained stout and held Colonia to only 10 points in the quarter. McKeon credited communication as the biggest factor in the team’s defensive success. Westfield racked up 12 steals on the day. The Patriots led 25–21 entering the break.
Westfield, unfazed by the small deficit, was quick to tie up the game and eventually retake the lead in the third quarter. After an and-one from Sica and a Sheehan layup, Westfield was able to tie up the game with four minutes to go in the quarter.
Moments later, senior play-making guard TJ Halloran reclaimed the lead with a mid-range jumper, and a Tyshawn Pearson layup off a Halloran assist extended Westfield’s lead to 42–38 in the remaining few minutes of the quarter. Nevertheless, Colonia answered and brought Westfield’s lead to within one point as the game headed to the fourth quarter.
Through the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, the score teeter-tottered. Each team committed two turnovers in their opening two possessions, Colonia banked a shot off the glass, and Sica followed with a floater in the lane.
When the witching minutes of the fourth quarter arrived, Pearson, Sica and Halloran converted impressive layups in traffic to increase Westfield’s lead to 51–47. Again, Colonia was reluctant to go away, stabbing back at the lead with a 3-point field goal to get within a point.
Westfield maintained its lead and led 52–51 with just under 20 seconds left in the game. The Blue Devils were in possession of the ball, and exquisite ball movement trimmed 12 seconds off the clock. Colonia was forced to foul the last guy it wanted to foul. Theo Sica.
“I intentionally held the ball in order to put myself in that situation. Coach has a big emphasis on free throws these past couple of practices so I knew I was ready for it,” said Sica.
Sica, with ice in his veins, calmly swished both free throws to give Westfield a 54–51 lead. With eight seconds left, Colonia made its way to midcourt in five seconds and called a timeout to give itself a better opportunity to nail a game-tying 3-pointer. The high-pressure Blue Devil defense forced a heave from the right wing of the floor which barely grazed the rim.
Westfield hung on and survived to win, 54–51.
“This was a big win. We were 1-3 but the goal is to win the next two games of the tournament and head into 2023 4-3. Coach keeps saying [to] go into the New Year as a winning team,” Sica said.
