Boys’ Basketball —

Newtown High Tries To Make Statement After SWC Defeat

By Andy Hutchison

MONROE — It is said, “If at first you don’t succeed … try, try again.”

In the case of the Newtown High School boys’ basketball team, this applies in more ways than one. The Nighthawks, after losing in the quarterfinal round of the South-West Conference Tournament to Stratford (a team they previously lost to in the regular campaign), will try to win in their first state tournament playoff game next week. In doing so, the Hawks will also attempt to knock off another team they narrowly lost to in the regular season.

Newtown opens Class LL State Tournament play Tuesday against SWC-rival Masuk, which came out on top 80-73 in overtime on January 22. Newtown (which went 15-5 overall this year) is the No. 16 seed and Masuk (14-6) is No. 17. The first round game will be at Newtown High at 7 pm.

Before the seedings and matchups were announced February 27, based on the standings, Newtown Coach John Quinn thought Masuk would be his first round opponent.

“If it is Masuk, it’ll be another war,” Quinn said. “We’ve got a good rivalry going with them.”

And the Nighthawks have plenty of incentive to win. Not only to they want to avenge that regular-season OT setback, but they also want to get rid of the bitter taste of defeat that lingers from this past Saturday’s SWC tourney game with Stratford.

The SWC loss was tough to swallow given that a bounce here or there, or a different call here or there, could have changed things. Newtown was whistled for three offensive fouls in the fourth quarter, helping Stratford come away with a 52-44 win in Masuk High’s gymnasium.

“I’ve never seen that and that’s all I’m going to say. That killed us,” Quinn said of the officiating.

Stratford, the SWC tourney’s No. 3 seed, was 14-6 (10-3 in the conference) and Newtown was the No. 6 seed with a mark of 15-5 (8-5). The Hawks, though, put themselves in position to upset the Red Devils. Newtown led 19-16 at halftime and Stratford hung close throughout the third quarter, finally taking its first lead of the second half on Tim Martin’s basket just before the buzzer to end the third. It was 29-27 Stratford heading into the fourth.

“It was a very low scoring game for three quarters,” Quinn said.

The Newtown coach credited Stratford’s defense but also said his team learned to take a more patient approach against the Red Devils after losing 60-52 in the February 5 meeting.

“We weren’t rushing shots like we did the last time we played them,” Quinn said.

In the fourth quarter, Stratford outscored Newtown 17-13, and pulled away at the free throw line in the final minute-plus.

At one point in the fourth, Newtown senior Kevin Troy momentarily took over control of game almost single-handedly. He scored 11 straight Newtown points to offset Stratford’s offense and the game went down to the wire. Trailing 41-40, Newtown was called with offensive charges on back-to-back possessions in a span of 46 seconds inside of two minutes remaining. Troy and fellow senior Dan Smith were both whistled, and Quinn showed his frustration with the officiating.

Stratford scored the next five points and didn’t give up the lead in the final couple of minutes. Down 46-40, Newtown senior Jason Smith scored with 37.7 seconds left but the Red Devils sealed the win at the free throw line.

“It’s tough when you don’t have officials who want the players to chose the outcome of the game,” Troy said.

Although the Hawks believed the officiating may have cost them a trip into the SWC semifinals, the coach and players recognized that another big factor — figuratively and literally — was Stratford’s Robert Dupree, who has several inches of height advantage on Newtown’s tallest players. Dupree had 19 points, and dominated the game down low with easy baskets, rebounds, and a couple of big blocked shots.

Troy led Newtown with 24 points, Jason Smith had 9, and Mike Maher added 7. Newtown was 9-for-12 at the free throw line and Stratford sank 17 of 22 from the stripe.

The Hawks did not practice on Monday or Tuesday. Quinn wanted the team to take a little time off to regroup before the start of state tourney play.

“We’re going to prepare like we always do,” Troy said. “We’ll be ready for the first game of states.”