Stopped In SWC And State Tourneys—

So Close, Yet Again … Hawks Fall To Stratford In SWC Title Game, Then Upset In States

By Andy Hutchison

MONROE — The Newtown High School boys’ basketball team led by five points heading to the fourth quarter — the 15-point lead they couldn’t hang onto in a regular-season loss to Stratford likely in the backs of their minds. Once again, the Stratford Red Devils fought back and knocked off the Nighthawks in a battle of conference foes.

This time it really stung. The latest edition of Stratford versus Newtown came in the South-West Conference Tournament championship game. This was Newtown’s first appearance in the conference title game since the establishment of the SWC in the 1995-96 school year. The Hawks were so close to upsetting unbeaten Stratford and capturing the program’s first SWC title. But the Devils, the tourney’s top seed, avoided an upset by third-seeded Newtown in a 53-41 win at Masuk High on March 4.

As has been the case all season long, the Newtown players hustled and dove for lose balls and used their strong defense to cause turnovers or get rebounds and scored on the fast break.

“That’s all them, that’s all heart, and that’s a desire to win,” Newtown Coach John Quinn said.

Down 39-35 with 4:02 to play, the Devils went on a 13-0 run for a 48-39 advantage and never looked back. The Hawks had several possessions in the final three minutes, but their shots stopped falling.

“We just had a three-minute stretch where we didn’t make shots, and they’re shots that are good shots for us that didn’t go in,” Quinn said.

Stratford’s big man in the middle, Division I prospect Brandon Sherrod, scored 23 points despite strong defense by Newtown’s big guys, George Zaruba and Matt Datin. Each a little more than 6-feet tall, Zaruba and Datin were still giving up about five inches and, Quinn estimates, 25-or-so pounds to Sherrod. Newtown also double-teamed Sherrod but it wasn’t enough.

“No matter what we did, he was getting the ball,” Quinn said.

The double-team effort paid dividends at times, but also backfired when Sherrod got the ball to open teammates.

“That’s always a gamble,” said Quinn, adding that it was the only way to have any success defending such a big (and talented) player. “To their credit — they capitalized.”

Before everything unraveled in the final minutes, this was a highly-competitive and exciting game. Newtown fell behind 13-5 after one quarter of play, but NHS junior Josh Engler dominated the second quarter with 13 of his team-high 18 points and Newtown led 24-19 at halftime.

In the third quarter, senior Casey Tenney came up with a loose ball and, while tangled up with a Stratford player and falling to the floor, had the wherewithal to get the ball to senior Dan Lynch, who pushed the floor for a layup. Tenney then drew a charge, Engler sank an outside jumper and senior Andy Lapple, despite clearly being in pain with a shoulder injury that has nagged him, kept weaving his way to the rim for baskets. Lapple ended up with 13 points.

Stratford had pulled to within 33-30 before Lynch took an inbounds pass, drove baseline and converted a reverse layup just before the end of the third quarter for a 35-30 NHS advantage. Stratford scored five straight points before Lapple went end-to-end for a 37-35 Hawk lead. Tenney came up with a steal and set up Lynch for a 39-35 advantage before the game took a turn for the worst for Newtown.

This was a defensive battle after the two teams put on an offensive show in the first meeting — a 72-69 Stratford win.

The bleachers were packed with Stratford fans on one side and Newtown supporters on the other. Each side of the gymnasium chanted, yelled, and clapped throughout this back-and-forth battle. In the end, the Devils danced on the floor and the Hawks were left to watch, fighting back tears, from their bench.

“I just feel for these kids. They’re such a great group of kids,” Quinn said.

“If we kept playing like we did we could have won, but Stratford’s a good team. We’ve got to give it to them for pulling out and winning that game,” senior Casey Tenney said. “We gave it our all. We came up short but it’s still a really good season — no regrets.”

The Hawks weren’t quite finished with their season following this loss. Newtown was the fifth seed in the Class LL State Tournament. The Nighthawks, however, were upset at home by No. 28 Newington 57-48 in the first round on Tuesday.

It was a surprisingly early tourney exit for Newtown. The Hawks, Quinn said, had been scouted heavily by Newington late in the season.

Newtown will lose a strong senior class of Lapple, Lynch, Tenney, Zaruba and Peter Manos.

Lynch and Lapple were both named to the SWC’s All-Tournament team. Stratford’s Sherrod and Russell Payton (12 points) were co-MVPs of the tourney.