By Andy Hutchison

Beginning with Tuesday’s loss to Stratford High, the Newtown boys’ basketball team is concluding the regular season with four of five games against some of the toughest conference opponents.

The final two weeks of the campaign should provide good tuneups for the Nighthawks, as well as possible previews of matchups in the upcoming South-West Conference Tournament.

Newtown fell 60-52 at home to Stratford on Tuesday. The Hawks are 13-3 this season (6-3 in the SWC). Stratford improved to 10-6 (5-3 in the SWC), including a pair of overtime defeats and now holds an SWC seeding tiebreaker.

Since winning 11 straight games to start the season, the Hawks have alternated losses and wins over a five-game period and are looking to recapture their early- to mid-season magic. After visiting 4-11 Immaculate on Friday, Newtown ends the season against a couple of 12-win schools in Notre Dame-Fairfield and Kolbe Cathedral and 10-win Bunnell.

“It’s going to be a tough few weeks for us both practicewise and in game time,” senior Kevin Troy said. “This is a pretty good test for us to see how durable we’re going to be late in the season.”

Against Stratford the Hawks simply didn’t execute. Shots clanked off the rim and swirled out of the cylinder and Stratford took advantage of an edge in height with some strong play down low.

“When you don’t make your shots, you don’t win games,” Newtown Coach John Quinn said. “We got a lot of good, open looks.”

The team’s bread-and-butter, the full-court press and up-tempo game, couldn’t save Newtown on this night.

“We ran our stuff and got good shots and nothing went in,” Quinn said. “We’re better than we played tonight and that is in no way discrediting Stratford.”

Troy had 12 points, Dan Smith had 11, and Jason Smith and Mike Maher each added nine on Tuesday night.

It was 22-18 Stratford at halftime but the visitors erupted with 19 points in each the third and fourth quarters. Newtown trailed by just six heading into the fourth but it was a three- or four-posession game for most of the final quarter.

With just 41 seconds remaining in the game, Troy drove to the hoop to score and was fouled. His three-point play got Newtown within 54-50, but that’s as close as the home team got as Stratford iced the game at the foul line.

The Hawks have proved they are dangerous team and come up with some big wins. They have already beaten Notre Dame-Fairfield, but recent struggles and the playoffs looming have the Hawks itching for some positive results against the SWC’s best down the stretch.

“We’re still trying to prove to people we’re a good team,” Troy said.