Dedicate 07-08 Season To Kim Harmon—

Newtown Boys Win

Tip-Off Hoop Classic

By Steve Bigham

The NHS boys’ basketball team opened its season in style last week by capturing the inaugural SWC Tip-Off Classic. An 85-70 win over Notre Dame of Fairfield in the finals ensured that the host team took first-place honors.

The early-season tournament reaffirmed to Coach John Quinn that his 2007-08 squad has the tools to play winning basketball. Few of last year’s top scorers are back and most of this year’s players are getting serious varsity minutes for the first time. But make no mistake. These Nighthawks are for real. Many of them were members of last year’s undefeated junior varsity team. They hit you with full-court, man-to-man pressure, rebound well despite no player standing over six feet, two inches tall, and they play in-your-face defense. What’s more, this appears to be an unselfish bunch, meaning it can hit you with a balanced scoring attack, which always seems to work better than having to rely on one or two stars.

And then there’s the athletic Jason Smith, last week’s tournament MVP, who can change the outcome of a game without having to score a lot of points. He scored eight points in the win over Notre Dame, but it was his overall performance that caught people’s attention. He was especially impressive in shutting down Notre Dame’s Joey DeSantis, who had scored 34 points two nights earlier, including seven three-pointers. Against Newtown, however, he had a hand in his face all night.

Meanwhile, Mike Maher led the way for Newtown with 19 points. He is probably Newtown’s top shooter, but has also proven he can score inside and is a strong rebounder. Newtown center PJ Cochrane added 16 points in the championship win, Kevin Troy added 12 and Jake DeVellis tossed in 10. Dan Smith, who was selected to the all-tournament team, scored six points.

Troy suffered a high ankle sprain late in the second quarter and is expected to be out of action for the near future. This is a big loss for Newtown, but Coach Quinn hopes the team can hold down the fort in his absence. He certainly has the depth to do it with additional players like Greg Rodden, George Zaruba, Daniel Quinn, Kurt Nacewicz, Connor Collier and Ian Cooper. Quinn hit a key second-half three-pointer against Notre Dame and scored eight points in Newtown’s convincing 72-36 victory over Kaynor Tech December 12. In that game, the Nighthawks overwhelmed their opponent with pressure defense resulting in numerous easy baskets. Troy led the way with 16 points, Jason Smith scored 13 and Maher added nine. Everybody got into the game and 11 different players scored.

Notre Dame advanced to the finals by beating Bunnell in the other semifinal.

Quinn said eight of his top ten players focus on basketball year-round, which gives Newtown an advantage over other teams where players are having to transition in from another sport.

Newtown was slated to face Pomperaug at home Wednesday night in a nonconference matchup.

Honoring Kim Harmon

The boys’ basketball team has dedicated its season to the memory of Newtown Bee sports editor Kim Harmon, who died suddenly early Sunday morning. Kim had covered the team for years and was close with both the coach and his players. He was in attendance at Friday’s championship game. In fact, Kim pulled double-duty that night, reporting on the girls’ basketball game at Pomperaug in Southbury, then rushing to the Newtown High School gym for the boys’ game.

“Kim was a special guy and he did a great job of covering sports in Newtown. He’s going to be dearly missed,” Quinn said Tuesday. “We had a team meeting yesterday and everyone agreed that we wanted to play this season in honor of him.”

Coach Quinn said he sent an e-mail to two of his sons in college last week asking them for their Christmas wish list. Inadvertently, he also sent the e-mail to Kim Harmon.

“I saw him at the game and I jokingly told him I had to get his Christmas list. He said, ‘I got it, coach.’ That was the last time I talked to him,” Quinn recalled.