NHS Boys’ Basketball Team In Search Of Playoff Berth

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School boys’ basketball coach John Quinn knew the Friday, February 13, game at Brookfield was not going to be an easy one. It’s a tough place to play, the coach noted, and the Nighthawks tend to struggle against these conference counterparts.

On paper, Newtown should have been favored (the Nighthawks needed just one more win to qualify for the state playoffs and Brookfield had just four wins) but Quinn was not about to assume anything. As it turned out, Brookfield ended a nine-game losing skid to defeat the Nighthawks 66-60 in overtime.

Quinn admits he’s getting superstitious about the rivalry — and it had nothing to do with Friday the 13th this year.

As bad luck would have it, Newtown seemed to have some Friday the 13th luck on Tuesday the 17th in its next game, a 64-59 loss to Notre Dame-Fairfield at home. Newtown led 34-27 late in the first half when Notre Dame’s Greg DeSantis launched a 3-pointer from a few feet beyond the arc as time expired. The ball appeared to still be in DeSantis’ hands when the buzzer sounded it but the officials let the shot stand, much to the dismay of Quinn and the rest of the Nighthawks. Those three points proved to be pivotal (Notre Dame led by three with seconds to play in the game and iced the victory at the free throw line).

“That gave them momentum right at the end of the half,” NHS captain Dan Quinn said.

The Lancers clawed back and eventually took the lead late in the third quarter, carried a four-point edge into the fourth and held on.

“I think we came out and played hard in spite of the call,” Coach Quinn said.

In fact, he added, this was the best full 32 minutes his team has played all season long given that ten players played and all of them played well.

Newtown had seven participants on the score sheet. Ian Cooper led the way with 18 points, Kurt Nacewicz had 13, Quinn scored 8, Casey Tenney dropped in 7, Max Paynter had 5, George Zaruba scored 4, and Peter Manos 3.

Trailing 10-8 late in the first, the Hawks took their first lead when Tenney and Paynter hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 14-10 lead heading into the second quarter. Josh Engler, Kyle Kromberg, Paynter, and Cooper came up with big blocked shots and rebounds and Nacewicz, Tenney and Dan Lynch all played well and set up the offense as Newtown and Notre Dame each scored 20 points in a fast-paced second quarter.

In the second half, Notre Dame, behind DeSantis’ game-high 26 points, built a five-point lead. Newtown pulled to within 60-57 on a Manos 3-pointer with 42 seconds to play and, down five (62-57), got back to within three thanks to a pair of Nacewicz foul shots with 7.3 seconds left, but DeSantis sealed the ND win with a pair of free throws of his own with 6.1 seconds to play.

“We just wanted to come out with a lot of energy and show Notre Dame that we could beat them,” Cooper said. “We gave them a battle. We just fell short in the end.”

“We hate losing — particularly when you play well enough to win against … arguably one of the two best teams in our league,” Coach Quinn added.

Notre Dame improved to 12-5 (8-3).

Newtown came out flat against Brookfield but finished the game strongly to force OT. That solid play carried over against Notre Dame and Quinn is hopeful that it will spill over into the final three games and — the Nighthawks hope — the state playoffs.

Newtown stands at 7-10 (5-7 in the South-West Conference) heading into a February 20 game at Oxford, a not surprisingly struggling first-year program. This is Newtown’s best chance to get into the playoffs and the Hawks certainly need this win if they want to have a shot at qualifying for the SWC playoffs.