City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Growing up as an athletic, hard-nosed kid in Northeast Philadelphia, Rocco Westfield had an obvious role model to look up to. Collin Gillespie came out his neck of the woods to achieve greatness at Archbishop Wood and Villanova, which is where he was playing when Westfield figured out in seventh grade that basketball was his sport, as well. 

“Collin Gillespie always inspired me,” Westfield told CoBL. “I felt like I could always model my game after him. Yeah, he’s definitely one guy I look up to.”

Fast-forward six years, and Westfield has not only gotten to know Gillespie well, but he’s following in his trajectory. Like Gillespie, Westfield gave up football midway through his high school career and turned that into a Division I scholarship. 

The Father Judge senior committed to Merrimack College in September, continuing a pipeline that’s building from Solly Ave. to North Andover (Mass.).

Westfield isn’t the only high-level athlete in his family. While he’s been on the rise in the basketball world, Frankie Westfield — his older brother by almost exactly 18 months — has been making waves on the soccer pitch. A starting defender for the Philadelphia Union, Frankie is currently in Chilé, playing for the USA U-20 team in the U-20 World Cup; he already scored a goal in Team USA’s tournament-opening win over New Caledonia. 

“It definitely is a big boost,” Rocco Westfield said. “Seeing what he does is crazy. He’s never home, he’s traveling the world to play soccer, and that’s something I would love to do with basketball. I look up to him, he inspires me to be better, just keep pushing.”

The Warriors were the only Division I school to offer Westfield, head coach Joey Gallo extending the scholarship after Judge advanced to the Catholic League championship game this past February, and though other schools were interested, Westfield took a visit up to Merrimack and realized he didn’t need to put off his decision any longer. 

It didn’t hurt that the Warriors already have a pair of Crusaders on the roster. Junior guard Ernest Shelton transferred up to the Division I level from Gannon this offseason, while freshman Kevair Kennedy shared a backcourt with Westfield on Judge’s Catholic League and PIAA 6A state championship-winning squad last winter. 

“I went to some practices, so seeing what they do in practice [helped],” Westfield said, “and talking to Kev, he really loves it up there, he enjoys himself, he enjoys the energy. I talked to both of them, they like it a lot.”

A 6-foot-0 combo guard, Westfield averaged 9.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 2.9 apg for Judge as a junior, hitting 60-of-139 (43%) from 3-point range to pace a team that shot better than 38% from the arc overall. That included a key 3-pointer in an early-season statement win over Imhotep Charter, and some key performances in Judge’s first-ever state tournament appearance, which resulted in a big win over Roman Catholic for the title in March.

His best year of hoops coincided with the fact that he gave up football after his sophomore year of high school, just like Gillespie had done nine years before.

“I think his toughness and his will and want to win is something that’s very similar to what Collin had,” said Judge coach Chris Roantree, who also coached Gillespie both at Wood and on the grassroots circuit with various teams throughout his high school years. “He was a guy that, similar to Collin, gave up football and dedicated himself to basketball after his sophomore year. I think that really paid off for him in terms of getting recruited and becoming a full scholarship Division I guy to Merrimack, and that commitment is very similar in terms of what happened to Collin.”

While Gillespie was the do-everything star at Wood, Westfield’s in a much different role at Judge. Even with Kennedy and big man Everett Barnes (Loyola Md.) now off at their respective Division I colleges, Westfield is still surrounded by a ton of future D-I talent in the likes of classmates Derrick Morton-Rivera (Temple) and Max Moshinski (Iona), along with a number of prospects in the junior classes and younger. 

At Merrimack, he could be trying to help the Warriors achieve some program history just like he did at Judge. Merrimack transitioned from an NCAA Division II to a Division I program starting with the 2019-20 season, becoming a full D-I member two years ago, and have yet to qualify for the D-I NCAA Tournament; the Warriors also have already bumped up conferences, going from the Northeast Conference to the Metro Atlantic (MAAC) starting with the 2024-25 season, going 20-11 (14-4) in their first season and losing in the MAAC semifinals.

Westfield’s especially looking forward to the MAAC competitions against Moshinski, Judge’s 6-5 wing who committed to the Gaels just a few days after Westfield popped for the Warriors; Merrimack had also been recruiting Moshinski for its 2026 incoming class. 

“Right when he committed. I said congratulations and everything,” Westfield said, “and then I let him know [...] one more year, and then it’s on.”