Boys Basketball—

Nighthawks Clinch State Playoff Berth As Subs Contribute

By Andy Hutchison

It was a win-win-win situation for Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team in a February 11 home game with Oxford. The Nighthawks earned their eighth win of the year — 66-40 — and, in doing so, clinched a state playoff berth. What’s more, the Hawks won so handily that all ten players on the bench got playing time — and not just mop-up, final-minute game action, but at least a few minutes of varsity time apiece.

When all was said and done, 15 players played, and 11 got into the scoring column. Josh Engler led the way with 13 points, and Kyle Wilcox — with 10 — was the only other Hawk in double figures. Sean Maher scored nine, RJ Roman had eight, Connor Quinn had six, and Mike Daubert, Josh Barrett, Matt Datin, Reid Schmidt, Tom Mascher, and Sean Elliott all added to the tally. Kevin LeBlanc, Brian Reed, Taylor Steimle, and David Lucia all saw some playing time and contributed to the win, as well. New-town improved to 8-8, and the young Oxford program remained winless.

Newtown Head Coach John Quinn noted that Oxford Coach Al Tolomeo is doing a good job with a young team at a small school. Newtown expected to win this game but needed to take care of business, and Quinn and Assistant Coach Kyle Lyddy were pleased with the way the players performed.

“I’m excited that everyone could get a chance to play tonight and everyone proved something — every-one was able to do something,” Lyddy said.

“Sometimes we seem to take the kids for granted — who don’t get a lot of court time. They work hard in practice and, more often than not, they play defense so the top seven, eight, nine kids can get better — so this is a great opportunity for them to show what they’re all about and, you know what, they’re pretty good.”

The Nighthawks had a much tougher test on February 15, at one of the tougher teams in the South-West Conference, Pomperaug of Southbury. Newtown lost 56-44 as Pomperaug improved to 14-4 overall.

Newtown will host New Fairfield on Friday, February 18, at 7 pm, then visit Joel Barlow in Redding on February 21 and close out the regular season at home against New Milford on February 23.