By Kim J. Harmon

It might have been icy cold outside, but the action inside was plenty hot in Newtown Middle School basketball.

While the girls were running roughshod over Bethel down in Bethel (as Morgan Knees scored a game-high 17 points), the boys were locked in the most exciting game of the still young 2003-04 season (although they ended up losing 56-54).

It was that kind of week.

It seemed as if time had run out on the boys’ basketball team.

Down 49-43 with less than four minutes left to play, the Lions – who had led 43-42 just a few moments before – seemed to be losing its grip and Bethel was threatening to put the game away with its run.

But Mike Maher banked one in off the glass on a drive and Greg Rodden added the bucket on another nice drive through the defense and just like that, the Lions were only down two. Even though the Wildcats canned a couple of free throws, Dylan Clark drained a three-pointer from the corner with just 1:01 left to trim the deficit to just one.

And that just made the last minute even more frantic.

Bethel extended its lead to 53-50 with a couple of foul shots, but Rodden sank two of his own free throws. Bethel hit two more foul shots and then Erik Dreher popped a bucket in the paint off a nice pass from Clark.

With only seconds left, Bethel was on top 55-54. A free throw extended that lead to 56-54, leading to Newtown’s last gasp shot attempt at the buzzer … a three-pointer that just nicked the front edge of the rim.

There were 12 lead changes in this game and while Bethel went up as much as seven points, Newtown never went ahead by more than three.

It was a thriller to the end.

PJ Cochrane (including a three-pointer) canned 12 points to lead the Lions while Clark added 11. Ten different players scored at least one point, with Dan Giorno (7), Dreher (6), Rodden (5), Mike Maher (3), Greg Larnerd (2), Jason Smith (2), Bob Lapple (1) and Dan Smith (1) all contributing.

The locals returned to the floor on Thursday in Brookfield to take on Whisconier Middle School and won’t return to the floor again until Tuesday, January 27, when they host Rochambeau in a boys/girls doubleheader.

After the tough loss suffered to Memorial of Middlebury last week, the girls’ basketball team deserved a much easier game. And – lo and behold – there it was.

Morgan Knees scored 17 points (including a three-pointer) to spark the Lady Lions to a 57-24 win over Bethel. Katie Condon chipped in with nine points while Joanna Barry added seven and Katie Schmidt and Kelly Tenney contributed six apiece.

Knees (12) Stacy Broughton (11), Schmidt (10) and Barry (9) combined for 42 rebounds. At the same time, Jen Brill, Condon, Bridie Rubino, Caitlin O’Handley, Hannah Tenenbaum and Colleen Murphy provided a smothering floor game to pace the Lady Lions.

The locals returned to the floor on Thursday to host Whisconier Middle School of Brookfield and won’t return to the floor again until Tuesday, January 27, when they host Rochambeau in a boys/girls doubleheader.