Boys’ Basketball Team Overcomes Loss Of Teammates From Lineup To Beat Masuk

By Andy Hutchison

MONROE — Bench players on the Newtown High School boys’ basketball team stepped up in a tough spot and came through, leading the Nighthawks — who were without three key players — to an emotional win at Masuk High on January 23.

Out of the lineup were three seniors, including two captains, who were suspended for breaking school policy for attending a party at which underage drinking allegedly occurred. The shorthanded Nighthawks pressed on and earned a hard-fought 43-40 win over the Panthers behind a spirited team effort. Newtown improved to 6-5 and Masuk dropped to 4-7.

“They played their hearts out,” said Newtown Coach John Quinn, whose team will be without those three players, captains Connor Collier and Dan Quinn along with senior starter Ian Cooper, for the remainder of the season.

The NHS coach was proud of his players for suddenly stepping into the starting lineup or, in some instances, more significant off-the-bench roles — and coming through. He was particularly pleased with the play of Peter Manos, Nick Nazer, Casey Tenney, and George Zaruba, the latter of whom did a nice job defending Masuk’s big man Jake Davies, the coach noted, holding him to 10 points.

Eight players registered points in a dispersed scoring effort. Dan Lynch (who led Newtown with 9 points), Kurt Nacewicz (8) and Josh Engler (6) always see a lot of playing time and continued to play well all the while benefiting from their teammates. Five other players contributed with baskets. Zaruba, in addition to leading a strong defensive effort, dropped in 6 points. Nazer also scored 6, Tenney and Max Paynter both scored 3 and Manos had 2.

The Nighthawks are essentially rebuilding for the second time in the span of a half a season. The Hawks lost all of their starters and top contributor off the bench to graduation last year and now will have to acclimate to life without three top-notch players. The trio of Collier, Quinn, and Cooper combined to provide a strong offensive and defensive presence.

“Three great kids made bad decisions,” Coach Quinn said. “They’re going to be missed.”

The win was bittersweet for the blue and gold. It was rewarding for the Hawks to persevere but a cloud hung over the team.

“Needless to say, it was a really emotional game on a whole bunch of fronts,” the coach added. “I told the kids that this could be one of the most difficult games they would play, certainly this year — and maybe in their entire interscholastic careers.”

Tenney said the coach had confidence in the less-experienced players and they were thrilled to step up to the challenge and come through.

“I just felt like we had to step up — we had to fill in for the other players who weren’t there,” Tenney said. “We stuck it out and we did it with heart.”

Tenney said the players still believe they can have success in the postseason this year and acknowledged that being forced into heavy varsity play for one game short of half of the regular season will pay dividends down the road.

“This is really going to help us for next year,” he said.

Meanwhile, questions remain about how the team will hold up this year. All indications were positive in the team’s first short-handed test. The Nighthawks buried clutch shots down the stretch to maintain the lead and hit just enough free throws to hold off the Panthers. Down 43-38 with the final seconds ticking off the clock, Masuk caught a break to stay in the game until the final horn. With the score 43-38, Masuk’s Scott Corchard was fouled in the act of shooting a 3-pointer with just one second left. He sank the first two shots and Davies grabbed the rebound off a miss but could not get a clean pass out to a teammate beyond the 3-point arc as time expired.

The Nighthawks have battled through a tough first half of the campaign — one in which nine of 11 games were on the road. The good news is, beginning with this past Tuesday’s home game with Bunnell (which NHS lost 57-49 in overtime to drop back to .500 at 6-6 overall), eight of Newtown’s last nine regular season clashes will be on its home floor. Tenney believes his team will benefit from home court advantage and looks forward to the fan support.

“When we get into our home games the whole place is going to be going crazy,” Tenney said.

Newtown will host Immaculate on Friday, January 30, and New Milford on February 3.