By Steve Bigham

After a nine-day layoff, the Newtown High School boys’ basketball team returned to action Wednesday night looking to begin the final stretch of the season with a bang.

The Nighthawks last played on January 30, losing badly at Bunnell in Stratford. Prior to that, however, they had won nine straight. Since last week’s loss, Newtown has fought off a couple of flu cases and a handful of injures. They appear to be healthy and in a good state-of-mind as they get set for the last six games, five of which are league contests.

Coach John Quinn said he kids are anxious to hit the floor again this week after a good week of practice. Newtown had a bye last Friday night.

“I’m hoping this nine days is a blessing in disguise. It gave us time to think about what made us successful and what happened at Bunnell. Ryan Walker and John Fiscella were both sick last week, so we’ve had a little bit of time to get our bodies back together,” said John Quinn as he prepared his team for its home game against a solid Bethel squad.

Newtown (8-2 in the South West Conference, 9-5 overall) has set itself to be the second seed at the eight-team SWC playoffs later this month. To do so, however, it will need to play well against what should be a somewhat easy schedule down the stretch. Newtown travels to hapless Jonathan Law in Milford on Friday night, then heads to Redding to play a well-coached Joel Barlow team next Tuesday. After that comes a non-conference game against Brookfield, then Weston and Foran.

“It’s time to play. If we play like we did against Bunnell, we’ll have trouble with Barlow, Bethel and Weston, but if we play the way we’re capable of, we have a chance to run the table and head into the playoffs at 15-5.”

And based on the way Newtown played during the month of January, that is a distinct possibility. After starting the season 0-4, the local team rattled off wins over Pomperaug, Stratford, New Fairfield, Notre Dame, New Milford, Masuk, Brookfield and Immaculate.

“We have an opportunity to run the table,” Quinn said.

If the playoffs started today, Newtown would be the second seed behind undefeated Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport, which relies on a plethora of talent around seven-foot center Fernando Bonfirm. Chasing Newtown is Immaculate, Bunnell, Notre Dame and Stratford. Weston and Masuk are also in the hunt for a postseason berth.