Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team put together three wins in six days to improve to 8-6 and qualify for state tournament play. The Nighthawks won 55-29 at Joel Barlow of Redding on January 29 to solidify their spot in the Division II bracket.

“It was an overall team effort. We defended well,” said Newtown Coach Matt Murphy, whose lineup joined Notre Dame-Fairfield (first place in the South-West Conference) as the only teams to hold the Falcons under 30 points thus far.

In the win over Barlow, Declan Regan (ten points to lead the Hawks) went double digits in points and rebounds, Ryan Zaniewski had nine points, and Ben Barber scored seven.

The Nighthawks beat New Milford 71-63 on January 24 and followed that up with a 55-44 victory over Stratford two days later. Both contests were at home. The New Milford game featured Makai Coleman reaching the 1,000 career point mark (see related story).

In both contests, NHS jumped out to large leads and fended off their counterparts. Against New Milford, the Nighthawks seized a commanding 35-13 lead sparked by Coleman’s 11 points in the first 4:17 of the game and some strong interior play by Asher Williams and Declan Regan, as well as drives to the hoop by Emmett Regan.

The Green Wave finished the first half on a 21-7 run and trailed just 42-34 heading into the break. New Milford got to within six points five times in the third quarter. Declan Regan elevated over the defense for a rebound and converted a 3-point play the old fashioned way with a basket and foul shot for a 55-44 lead with 2:35 left in the third. Declan Regan set up Williams on a bounce pass under the hoop and Williams cashed in for a 59-48 lead with 1:30 left in the stanza. New Milford again chipped away and got the lead all the way down to four points with a 3-pointer just before the buzzer. It was 59-55 Newtown headed to the fourth.

Coleman’s drive to the hoop for a 3-point play pushed the advantage to seven in the opening seconds of the fourth. The Green Wave again got to within four but Zaniewski assisted Declan Regan for a fast-break bucket and Coleman set up Declan Regan for two more points to quickly double the cushion, making it 66-58 with 6:15 left. Coleman’s long-range two-point pull-up jumper extended the lead to ten with 5:51 left. The Wave crept to within five at 68-63 with 3:24 to go but Newtown’s defense held strong the rest of the way.

“A win’s a win’s a win,” said Matt Murphy, as relieved as he was satisfied to escape with the W after that large lead was whittled way down to almost nothing in the second half.

Murphy was pleased with his team’s effort and the way the Hawks turned its defensive stands into scoring setups at the other end of the floor.

“Our defense created our offense. When we’re able to get out in transition and have good spacing we’re really tough to stop,” said Murphy, adding that the Hawks have multiple players who can hit shots from the outside and drive to the rim.

Declan Regan had a monster double-double with 21 points to go along with 16 rebounds — eight at each end of the court. Coleman finished with 20 points and five rebounds. Emmett Regan scored ten to go along with eight rebounds and two steals; and Williams added eight points.

Against Stratford, the Hawks jumped out to an early double-digit lead only to see the Red Devils get to within 23-21 late in the opening half. Declan Regan’s basket and foul shot with just five seconds left in the second quarter upped the lead to 26-21 which is where things stood at the half.

Newtown built a 32-21 lead early in the second half and, with help from an Andrew Grenier 3-pointer, went ahead 39-31 going to the fourth. Stratford got to within six a couple of times but Zaniewski rattled home a 3-pointer; Declan Regan’s work in the paint helped keep a little distance on the scoreboard. The Red Devils got things a bit closer at 48-43 with 2:09 left but Williams had a putback 19 seconds later, followed by a takeaway that set up Declan Regan’s layup to extend the lead to 52-43 with just over a minute and a half left.

Coleman and Declan Regan both scored 17 to pace the offense. Declan Regan pulled down 18 rebounds for another big night on the glass and in the paint. Coleman had a trio of rebounds and a pair of steals. Zaniewski scored seven, Emmett Regan six, and Grenier five.

Sports editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.