Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team topped visiting Kennedy of Waterbury 56-54 in the opening round of the Class LL state tournament on March 9. Harry Depuy and Will Dalton both scored 16 points, Jacob Burden scored 12, Jeremy Doski had eight, and Charlie Huegi and Tom Cotton each added two in the win.

The Nighthawks advance to the second round and will face top-seeded Fairfield Prep, on the road, at 7 pm on Wednesday, March 11.

Against Kennedy, the Nighthawks trailed 39-38 with a little more than seven minutes remaining. Depuy blocked a shot then cashed in at the other end for a 40-39 advantage with 6:16 to go, and the Nighthawks held off the Eagles the rest of the way.

Huegi came away with a steal and set up Dalton for an easy basket and a three-point lead, then Doski had a steal and layup seconds later to make it 44-39 with 5:25 to play. Timeout Kennedy.

The Eagles got to within two points on one of Don Jarrett’s four 3-pointers; Kennedy sank nine shots from downtown in the game. Dalton answered for a 46-42 lead with 4:14 to play to spark an 8-0 run to all but put the game out of reach.

Kennedy got to within six with 15 seconds left but never legitimately threatened to even things, scoring its final points on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Depuy pulled down 14 rebounds and had six blocks, Doski grabbed eight rebounds and eight assists, Huegi had four rebounds, and Dalton came away with three steals.

Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch was pleased with Newtown’s all around efforts in the win over the Eagles, and acknowledges that it’ll be a tough task to upset Prep. The coach, however, has confidence in his team.

“They’re going to go out there and play hard,” he said.