By Steve Bigham

NEW MILFORD – One down, nine to go.

That was the talk following the Nighthawks’ 66-34 win over hapless New Milford on Tuesday night because, from here on out, Newtown’s postseason fate will be tested day-to-day.

The Nighthawks were careful not to get too excited with their second league win of the season. Afterall, the 0-10 Green Wave are clearly struggling this year. But after starting the season with arguably the South-West Conference’s toughest schedule, the ‘Hawks were happy not to have another nailbiting game.

“We’ll take them anyway we can, especially with what we’ve been through,” said head coach John Quinn. “Just about every game has been a nail biter so far. We really enjoyed it tonight. We needed it. We deserved it.”

The toughest part of the schedule now appears to be behind the Nighthawks. No one left on the slate has the kind of talent that Notre Dame of Fairfield brought to the NHS gymnasium last Friday night. In an overtime thriller against the Lancers, Newtown finally succumbed, 79-75, in another great game.

But that has been typical. Newtown has played in several exciting games this winter, always coming out on the short end down the stretch.

“We had a heartbreaking stretch there. We’re looking forward to a little bit of good fortune,” Quinn said.

At 2-4 in the SWC, 4-7 overall, Newtown’s playoff hopes remain alive and well. The Nighthawks can take solace in knowing that they control their own destiny. But while the lesser part of the schedule does not include any powerhouse schools, it is full of clubs capable of ruining what could be an incredible turnaround season for Newtown. One of those teams is Masuk, which comes to town Friday night sporting a winning record in the SWC. Newtown beat the Panthers soundly a year ago and the Monroe team was not expected to make much noise this winter. But they have already defeated Immaculate and Stratford, and are starting to look like some of the Masuk teams of old.

Quinn is hoping his 12 players have saved the best for last. A playoff run is certainly within the realm of possibility, he said.

“We almost need to run the table. We can’t afford to go any less than 8-2 over our last 10 games,” he said. “Across the board, I think everybody realizes that.”

Eleven of the Nighthawks’ 12 players got into the scoring column Tuesday night as Newtown broke the game open early. Three-pointers by Courtney Steele and Jason Godoy helped NHS open an 8-0 lead. John Fiscella, who led Newtown with 17 points, helped push the lead to 24 at halftime.

Sophomore John Wesley had another big game, scoring 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor. He also buried all four of his foul shots.

“The kid is amazing. He must be shooting 75 percent from the floor this year,” Quinn said of his young center.

OT Loss to Notre Dame

Newtown found itself in another exciting game last Friday night at home. Unfortunately, the results remained the same, although the way they lost was somewhat new. The Nighthawks appeared dead-in the water on several occasions, only to battle back, before finally succumbing once and for all. Steele (4-for-4 from the line), Godoy (three-pointer) and Fiscella (three-pointer) each played well down the stretch. Newtown rallied from a 66-61 deficit with 40 seconds remaining to send the game into OT.

“When we pushed the game to overtime, I thought we had it,” Quinn admitted.

But he didn’t count on ND junior Len Jefferson (21 points) burying a three-pointer with 1:20 seconds left to give Notre Dame a 73-70 lead. It was a dagger in the heart – one from which Newtown never recovered. Just before Jefferson’s shot, Godoy made a nifty baseline move, but his attempt, which would have given NHS the lead, rimmed out.

“I really believe Notre Dame is the class of the league. A play here or there in overtime could have made the difference,” Quinn said.

After a Newtown turnover, Notre Dame (8-1, 4-0) upped the lead to 75-70 on a pair of free throws by Tim Meehan. Fiscella’s three-pointer with four seconds remains cut the lead to two, but Meehan added two more foul shots to seal the win.

Fiscella paced Newtown with 22 points. Steele scored 10 of his 19 in the fourth quarter. Rich Engel added a season-high 13 points, most of them coming on acrobatic moves to the hoop.

 “The kid is all heart. I wouldn’t trade him for any kid we’ve gone against this year,” Quinn said.

Steele was impressive down the stretch, ripping down rebounds with the kind of emotion that can put him among the league’s elite players.

“He was the best player on the floor that night,” said Quinn.

Newtown heads to Brookfield Tuesday to face the 1-4 Bobcats. It travels to Danbury to face a very talented Immaculate team next Friday.

NEWTOWN         12         23         13         18         - 66

NEW MILFORD    5           6           8           14         - 34

 

NEWTOWN (66): Jason Godoy 5 0-1 12, John Fiscella 6 3-4 17, Courtney Steele 3 2-2 9, Rich Engel 2 0-0 4, Bret McEvoy 0 0-0 0, Andrew Smith 1 2-5 4, Josh Dittmar 1 0-0 2, John Wesley 4 4-4 12, Jeff Wolcott 0 1-2 1, Ryan Walker 0 1-2 1, Grant Putnam 1 2-4 4. Totals: 23 15-24 66.

NEW MILFORD (34): Chris Dzurka 2 1-2 5, Tom Hiro 0 2-6 2, Joe Russo 1 0-0 3, Jeff Rubino 2 1-2 5, Jason Kitchens 2 5-6 9, Brandon pape 1 0-0 3, David Duda 1 0-0 2, John Burg 0 1-2 1, Brian Levay 0 0-0 0, Nick Riley 2 0-0 4, Sean Hayes 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 10-18 34.

Three-pointers: Godoy (N) 2, Steele (N), Fiscella (N) 2, Russo (NM), Pape (NM).

 

NOTRE DAME 12 11  20   12 - 79

NEWTOWN         18         10         16         23         - 75

 

NOTRE DAME (79): Tim Meehan 4 5-7 14, Jared Brown 6 5-6 17, Jason Sapp 2 0-0 4, Len Jefferson 7 5-11 21, Joe Wilson 6 0-0 12, Len Haynes 2 0-2 5, Vernard Thompson 2 0-0 4, Isaiah Jones 1 0-2 2. Totals: 29 15-28 79.

NEWTOWN (75): Jason Godoy 3 0-0 8, John Fiscella 8 5-9 22, Courntey Steele 6 6-9 19, Rich Engel 6 1-1 13, Bret McEvoy 1 0-0 2, Andrew Smith 1 0-0 2, Josh Dittmar 0 0-0 0, John Wesley 4 1-3 9. Totals: 29 13-22 75.

Three-pointers: Meehan (ND), Jefferson (ND) 2, Godoy (N) 2, Fiscella (N), Steele (N).