Wilcox’s Wild Shot, 3-Pointers Lift Nighthawks To Bounce-Back Win

By Andy Hutchison

Coming off a defeat in the first-round of the South-West Conference Holiday Basketball Classic, Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team members made the consolation game a memorable one with their first win in the new NHS gymnasium — a 61-53 victory over Weston on December 29.

Junior Kyle Wilcox had an especially thrilling night, scoring a career-high 23 points behind a five-for-six 3-point shooting effort which included a three-quarter court shot that he banked home as the first-half buzzer sounded. Wilcox took the shot after taking a pass from Connor Quinn, and gave the Hawks a nine-point cushion heading into the locker room.

“It was great,” said Newtown Coach John Quinn, adding that Wilcox ran off the court toward the locker room as if the shot were nothing. “The kids went crazy.”

Senior captain Josh Engler scored in double figures for the fourth straight game with a 12-point effort. Fellow senior captains Matt Datin and Sean Maher also had strong games. Datin contributed eight points and seven rebounds, and Maher scored nine points. Senior RJ Roman brought down six rebounds, and junior Josh Barrett had six assists as the Nighthawks evened their record at 2-2.

“We beat a very good team in a bounce-back game — and that’s a good thing for a young team,” Quinn said.

The Nighthawks are experiencing some ups and downs in the early going. That’s to be expected from a squad led by a new-look starting five. Newtown lost in its next contest, 45-32 to Pomperaug of Southbury on January 4.

Newtown is scheduled to host Weston, in the regular SWC meeting, on Friday, January 7.

Although the Hawks will enter into the game with some confidence after having beaten the Trojans, Quinn doesn’t expect it to be easy. “It’s always hard to beat a good team two times,” the coach said.