Cranford Falls to Westfield in Boys Basketball

Ryan Hess had 13 points, Jaraad Rogers added 12 and Pat Sabatino chipped in with 10 points as Westfield defeated Cranford 45-24 in boys' basketball action Thursday afternoon in Cranford.

The Cougars had issues from the field and at the line. All in all, it's a game they'll need to forget. And fast.

"We can't shoot 8-for-40 from the field and 3-for-15 from the line and expect to win," said Cranford coach Ryan Huber. "We just didn't play well, but we'll try it again tomorrow night against Union Catholic and see what happens."

"We're just very angry," said junior guard Sean Trotter. "We just couldn't get anything to work. We need to come out with fire and prove we're not a bad team."

Cranford was led by Greg Goode's seven points, while guard Sean Trotter added five. Will Green had a team-high eight rebounds as the Cougars lost for the third straight time after starting the season 2-0.

"We know we're better than what we showed against Westfield," said Will Green. "It's tough to lose to a rival like that, but we hope to get another chance against them later in the season."

Meanwhile the Blue Devils were determined to make amends against a tough Cranford team after suffering a difficult 60-49 loss to No. 11 Linden on Tuesday.

"It was definitely a good performance all around," said Pat Sabatino, a 6'6 senior and Westfield's leading scorer. "We're kind of upset that we had so many turnovers against Linden, so we really focused on that at practice between games and we felt we had to come out hard and get back on top."

Westfield shutout the Cougars in the first quarter, holding a 9-0 lead after one. The first half ended with Westfield holding a 17-4 lead, a low-scoring first half for these local rivals.

"This was the third team we held under 40 points," said Westfield head coach Kevin Everly. "At halftime, we held Linden to 19 points, which was a great job, and for some reason we just let the doors open in the second half of that game. I really challenged our guys to say that wasn't who you are. I wanted them to make amends. I think they really responded to that."

"It's a big week for us," said Sabatino. "We didn't want to finish out with a losing record for this week, so we definitely had to beat Cranford to stay on top. They're definitely one of the better teams."

Westfield, meanwhile, will have the unenviable task of taking on the No. 1 ranked team in the country when they face St. Patrick's of Elizabeth Saturday night at Kean University at 7:30.