City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)

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PHILADELPHIA-There was never a doubt when the ball left Rocco Westfield’s hands.

It’s a shot he has taken over and over since he and his older brother, Philadelphia Union right-back Frankie Westfield were playing basketball as kids growing up. He has made a wealth of threes during his career at Father Judge and last year he had some truly memorable runs during perhaps the greatest season in Crusaders history. All he needed was a slight opening and his defender’s hand down for a split second for that fluid jumper to leave his hands and send the Bill Fox gymnasium into pandemonium.

He got more than a bit of space and in the process recalled memories and feelings from last year’s incredible run.

“That’s how I felt, especially with Max bringing it up,” Westfield said. “That’s been my boy for years and he did a great job penetrating toward the rim. Two guys collapsed on him, and I was open in the corner. I just made the shot. Credit to him for making it happen.”

Westfield took a pass from Max Moshinski in the right corner and drained a wide open three-pointer from the right corner at the buzzer to give Father Judge a 69-68 victory over Roman Catholic. The win marked the third time in three years the Crusaders have handled the Cahillites in the regular season and that number rises to five victories in that span when adding in the last season’s Philadelphia Catholic League and PIAA Class 6A title game. It was Westfield’s fifth three-pointer of the night and of course the biggest after it appeared Roman Catholic had wrapped things up at the foul line.

After Semaj Robinson sank three free throws over the final eight seconds, the Cahillites took a 68-66 lead with under two seconds remaining and the Crusaders were out of timeouts. Head coach Chris Roantree had called one on the previous possession with Roman Catholic (7-6, 3-2 Philadelphia Catholic League) leading by three. However, the Cahillites chose to foul instead and as they were over the limit, Nazir Tyler went to the line and converted his only two points of the night. Roantree had addressed that with no remaining timeouts, the final possession would be on his group to make something happen, specifically his three seniors in Westfield (21 points), Moshinski (nine) and Derrick Morton-Rivera (19), all of whom will be playing Division I basketball next season.

He trusted Moshinski to make the right pass and, even in a difficult shooting slump, and Westfield to sink a clutch shot to bring home a much-needed victory for Father Judge (7-8, 4-2) on its home floor.

“During that last timeout, we talked about if [Robinson] missed one, we have to sprint and get to the rim and get our feet set,” Roantree said. “If he had made it, we’re going to try and get a pull-up three or see how it goes. Rocco and Max have been here before and Roc makes a huge shot for us. He’s been struggling shooting the ball a bit and just getting him shots is big.”

With the departure of Pa. All-State 6A Player of the Year Kevair Kennedy to Merrimack, Westfield, a Merrimack commit himself, has moved to the point guard spot and taken on the responsibility of facilitating the offense for a deep Crusaders team. This has allowed Morton-Rivera to continue to play off the ball and given Westfield the burden of making sure the offense doesn’t skip a beat, which it rarely did under Kennedy over four seasons. It has caused his scoring and shot attempts to decline slightly, and he has had to make a big adjustment compared to being the recipient of many Kennedy assists for easy jumpers.

Roantree has asked a lot of Westfield by moving him to the point and he understands the sacrifice his senior guard has undertaken for the team to succeed.

“He has sacrificed this year as we’ve put him at the point because Jeremiah [Adedeji] has been playing fantastic for us,” Westfield said. “He sacrificed his offense for us, but he does everything else for us to help us win. I’m so happy for him making that shot.”

Westfield very nearly tied the game after being fouled behind the arc with 20.1 seconds remaining. He hit two of his three free throws then the Crusaders resorted to fouling with limited time left. A few possessions prior, it was VCU commit Sammy Jackson and La Salle commit RJ Smith who looked to be the heroes after combining for 33 points. Jackson, playing in front of future head coach Phil Martelli Jr., scored seven of his 20 points in the fourth, including a clutch three-pointer from the wing to put Roman Catholic up 63-60. Smith, who showcased his pedigree in front of future Explorers coach Darris Nichols, had 13 points, five rebounds and six assists. His floater in the laner following Jackson’s three extended the lead to five with just over a minute to play.

After Moshinski took a pass from his longtime friend and point guard, it was no surprise to see Westfield take a pass from Morton-Rivera and immediately launch a potential game-tying three-pointer in rhythm. He lucked by getting fouled but as the great shooters do, he took it with confidence regardless of if he was going to be fouled or not.

“It’s just repetition,” Westfield said. “I work with all our coaches here every day before and after practice. It’s just repetition and reps. “I’m always shot-ready and I put in the work. I’m always ready to shoot.”

Whether it was the first one he made in the opening quarter or the game winner from the corner, the confidence has never wavered with Westfield and Roantree has seen that firsthand. The attempts and open jumpers may be fewer than a season ago but when that ball touches Westfield’s fingertips, he’s always ready to fire and feels every one that leaves his hands is going in.

“Good shooters are repetitious,” Westfield said. “They shoot all the time and work on it all the time. He gets a lot of shots up but it’s also about confidence and when it goes up, he knows it’s going to go in. You have to have that confidence and I’ve said this to him, he hasn’t been confident lately because he hasn’t shot the ball great this year. Hopefully this gets him going as we move forward.”

The Cahillites dictated the tempo early on to initially take the crowd out of it with a 10-0 run to close out the first quarter with Jackson draining a trey and capping off that run with a Dwayne Ruffin triple at the buzzer. Bryce Presley – the Germantown Academy transfer who had 11 points and six boards – was solid inside and out and he gave Roman Catholic a one-point lead at 28-27 heading into halftime. Al-Jalil Bey-Moore scored four of the Cahillites’ first six points of the second half and finished the game with 11 points of his own to go along with eight rebounds as he battled 6-7 big man Jeremiah Adedeji, who finished with 16 points and has been terrific in his first year in the rotation. Yet another benefit of Westfield’s move to the top of the offense.

Morton Rivera, the Temple commit, got the crowd back into it midway through the third with 11 consecutive points including an and-one at the 4:18 of the quarter that could be heard down on the street of Solly Avenue. Smith answered Morton-Rivera’s personal 11-point run with his lone three-pointer of the game then Bey-Moore finished on a putback and Roman Catholic was prepared to take control with a 51-43 advantage. Three straight Father Judge possessions to begin the fourth ended with shots from deep in this order: Westfield, Morton-Rivera and Adedeji. Finally, a Morton-Rivera transition layup made it 57-56 with 4:51 left to play then the chess match began before Westfield’s ultimate checkmate.

That buzzer-beater was the first of Westfield’s high school career and he couldn’t recall having made one when he was younger. He was swarmed by teammates and the student section, and the elation felt in that gym hadn’t been felt for much of this season. Westfield was happy he was the one who brought it out of the home faithful.

“It means a lot to us, especially as players,” Westfield said. “The alumni and all the coaches, parents and students always come to support us. They create the energy and we feed off it.”

This appears to be a real turning point for the Crusaders. Following a difficult start to the year that saw them play Jordan Smith, the No. 2 ranked player in the class of 2026 according to 247 Sports, and Paul VI (Va.), Colton Hiller, the No. 3 player in the class of 2028, and Coatesville, and a traditional matchup with Imhotep Charter, Roantree was ready to begin the Philadelphia Catholic League slate and see what lessons his team had learned during that rough stretch against high-level competition.

His group showed some of those lessons on Friday night and they look to be back to playing the style of basketball that made them so successful last season.

“It’s great to see the environment that we get and it was the same thing against Archbishop Wood,” Roantree said. “You couldn’t jam another person in here the other night and I’m just happy that it’s back to that. That’s how it was when I played here and seeing it again is really special. It’s great for our guys and I’m glad they’re getting opportunities to play in an atmosphere like this.”

By Quarter

Roman Catholic 20 | 8 |25 | 15 || 68

Father Judge 10 | 17 | 18 |22 || 69

Scoring

Roman Catholic: Sammy Jackson 20, RJ Smith 13, Al-Jalil Bey-Moore 11, Bryce Presley 11, Semaj Robinson 7, Dwayne Ruffin 4, Brad Wanamaker Jr. 2

Father Judge: Rocco Westfield 21, Derrick Morton-Rivera 19, Jeremiah Adedeji 16, Max Moshinski 9, Nazir Tyler 2, Khory Copeland 2