UC boys basketball team storms back to defeat Westfield in season opener
The season opener for the Union Catholic boys basketball team was a tale of two halves.
In an eagerly anticipated Watchung Conference battle with Westfield on Saturday night in front of a huge and energetic home crowd in Scotch Plains, things didn't start out well for the Vikings. Shots weren't falling, the offense struggled to find a rhythm, and turnovers plagued UC. Meanwhile, Westfield was on fire from outside as the Blue Devils raced out to a 13-point lead.
But it was a different story in the second half when the Vikings cranked up the defensive intensity, which led to several turnovers and transition baskets, and
AJ Altobelli hit a huge momentum changing basket to end the third quarter, which sparked a huge surge by the Vikings and propelled UC to a 53-44 comeback victory.
The Vikings were led by
Raheem Williams, who led all scorers with 13 points. In the balanced attack for UC, Altobelli scored nine points, FK Muntari and
Terrance Wood each finished with eight points,
Yaw Ansong and
Keyshawn Winchester scored six points, and
Javon McKay had four points.
Westfield, 0-2 to start the season, hit several perimeter shots to open the game and converted UC miscues into points to take a 15-6 lead after the first quarter. Westfield's lead ballooned to 24-11 midway through the second quarter before UC closed on the half on a pivotal 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 26-20.
UC then dominated the second half, outscoring Westfield 33-18 to rally for the victory.
Altobelli said UC had some jitters to start the game and had to just forget about the first half and play with more intensity in the second half.
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"We just had to wipe the first half out of our minds,'' said Altobelli, a sophomore point guard. "Coach said that's the worst half we will play, and we got it out of our system. It was Westfield's second game so they already got those jitters out, and we still had to do that. In the second half, we really applied the defensive pressure, and that really was the game changer for us.They couldn't get off many good shots, and we just played much better on both ends of the floor. We felt we were the better team, and we just had to finish the game strong''
Altobelli hit the most dramatic and biggest shot of the game. Watch it in the video above.
With the clock ticking down at the end of the third quarter, Altobelli hit an acrobatic, left-handed, long range jumper off one foot as the buzzer sounder to end the quarter. It was ruled a 2-point basket, but it was clearly behind the three-point line. That sliced the Westfield lead to 34-33 and sent the home crowd into a frenzy, and it ignited the Vikings to a huge fourth quarter
"Yeah, that was really big because the momentum of the building just switched,'' said Altobelli. "You just saw the crowd erupting and it was just electric. That gave us a lot of momentum and we carried that into the fourth quarter and things kept going our way.''
In the fourth quarter, Wood, a junior forward, made his presence felt by scoring the first five points, including a powerful finish on a layup that put UC ahead for the first time in the game, 36-34, with 6:25 left to play. The Vikings would never trail again..
After Westfied hit a three to get within 38-37 with 4:32 left, the Vikings responded with an 8-0 spurt to open a 46-37 lead. FK scored four of those points, including a bucket off a great feed from Altobelli, and Altobelli and Williams each scored in transition.
UC finished strong as McKay sank a pair of free throws, Altobelli turned a steal into a layup, Ansong scored in the paint, and Williams scored on layup to close out the game.
Westfield, 0-2 to start the season, had all the momentum at the start of the game. The Blue Devils hit several perimeter shots to open the game, and converted UC miscues into points to take a 15-6 lead after the first quarter. Westfield's lead ballooned to 24-11 midway through the second quarter before UC closed the half on a pivotal 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 26-20.
UC head coach Dr. Jim Reagan Jr. was very impressed with how his team fought back after Westfield's fast start.
"Compliments to Westfield,'' said Reagan "They took our guards out of what we wanted to do to start and made us uncomfortable, and we weren't making shots. But the key in the first half was cutting the lead to six, so I felt really good at halftime that we were going to play much better in the second half, and that we'd be able to pressure the Westfield guards, and that what happened. We got turnovers and made shots. Our maturity in the second half really showed, and you saw AJ and Terrance, returning varsity players, really step it up get the job done to help make sure we walked out of here with an opening night victory against a really good Westfield team.''
Reagan also loved the high energy level and great atmosphere in the gym, which was packed with UC students and alumni.
"It was a really good crowd here, and I'm really proud of our students, our student athletes and the Blue Crew. It was a holistic team effort for us.''
The Vikings will be back in action on Sunday vs. DePaul at 6 p.m. at Weequahic High School.
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