NHS Boys’ Basketball Team Rolls Into Tough Stretch

By Andy Hutchison

The Newtown High School boys’ basketball team won three games this past week, toppling visiting Joel Barlow of Redding 71-51 on January 8, trekking up to Norwich Free Academy and rolling to a 65-46 win the next night, and then holding off host New Milford 53-49 in a physical battle on January 12.

The Nighthawks are 7-1 overall (3-0 in the South-West Conference) as they head into possibly their toughest stretch of games this season.

Against Barlow, Newtown’s scoring was spread out across the board with Dan Lynch leading the effort with 13 points and George Zaruba contributing 10.

In the NFA game, rescheduled from the week before because of snow, the Hawks were led by Andy Lapple’s 25 points and what Newtown Coach John Quinn said was a great all-around effort by Lapple.

Lapple continued his sharp play with a 20-point performance against New Milford. Engler added 16 as the Nighthawks built a double-digit lead and held on. Newtown’s strong defense held New Milford to just four field goals and 15 first-half points.

“Our defensive pressure on the perimeter, again, helped us win a game,” Quinn said. “Our defense really controlled the game.”

Quinn said this was an overly physical game and he was proud of the way his players prevailed. Lynch and Engler, the coach said, have played strong defense all season long and he noted that Peter Manos has stepped up and played tough defense of late.

“I’m very pleased,” with the start of the campaign, Quinn said.

Now the apparently tough tests are here. Newtown, which squeaked by Weston in the Staples Holiday Tournament earlier this year, will visit the Trojans for a rematch this Friday, January 15. After that, the Hawks face two of the best teams in the conference. On January 19, Newtown will host defending state champion and unbeaten (7-0) Stratford at 5:15 pm. Then, on January 22, Newtown will entertain always tough Masuk at 7 pm. The Panthers carried a 6-2 record into the middle of this week.