By Steve Bigham

Senior guard Rich Engel toed the foul line Tuesday night – all but oblivious to the chants from the Bethel crowd at his back.

“Engel, read the wall,” the Bethel fans chanted in reference to the school’s success on the soccer field.

Engel, a top soccer player himself, has apparently earned the ire of the Wildcat faithful for his winning brand of soccer. He beat Bethel on the soccer pitch this past fall, and thanks to his clutch foul shooting down the stretch Tuesday, has now done the same on the hardwood.

Newtown knocked off Bethel on the road, 60-53, earlier this week, keeping its playoff dreams alive and ticking.

“They can talk all they want. We won the game,” said Engel, who buried all four of his shots in the final minute as trash-talking Bethel rallied to get back into the game.

Junior John Fiscella, who was shut down for much of the night, also hit a pair of free throws to seal the victory in the final seconds. Newtown finished a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute of play to offset Bethel’s relentless three-point bomb attack.

The Nighthawks have now won six-out-of-seven games to run their record to 6-5 in the South-West Conference (SWC), 8-8 overall. Tuesday’s win qualified Newtown for the CIAC Class L tournament later this season, but Coach John Quinn and his club were not celebrating that particular achievement. They’ve got their eyes set on the SWC postseason and that dream becomes more and more a reality with each passing win.

“Our league is good. No game is easy, so I’ll take an away win like this any day,” Quinn said. “We have four games left and we can only afford one more loss. We’re good enough to run the table.”_According to Quinn, Newtown still has a chance to be among the top four seeds in the eight-team tournament, but that would require a 4-0 finish and a little help from the rest of the league. The locals struggled out of the gates this year in SWC, going 1-4.

Who’s Dittmar?

By now, most area basketball fans have heard about guys named Steele, Godoy, Fiscella, Engel and McEvoy.

But the name Dittmar – well that’s kind of a new one.

Bethel and several other teams now know Josh Dittmar, however. He’s Newtown’s sophomore sensation, who lit Bethel up for 11 points and eight rebounds Tuesday. His play during the final 10 minutes of the game may have saved the Nighthawks’ season. Trailing 41-39 late in the third quarter, Quinn called on Dittmar, who promptly entered the game, scored on an acrobatic layup to tie the game, then gave Newtown the lead with another fine move under the basket. He then ripped down a key rebound that led to a Jason Godoy three pointer and a 48-43 lead. And with 3:50 to play, put back a missed shot to put his team up six. His defensive rebound and ensuing outlet pass set up Courtney Steele (15 points) for a score, then nailed a pair of free throws with 53 seconds to play to put his team up seven. The sophomore also canned a big three-pointer in the first half.

Dittmar and teammate John Wesley, who now starts, have made a huge impact this season.

“He’s going to be a great player,” said Quinn.

Senior point guard Bret McEvoy enjoyed what may have been his finest game of the season, scoring a career-high 11 points. His finest hour may have come in the second quarter when he hit for seven points and came up with numerous steals and assists. Newtown trailed 17-10 midway through the second quarter, but McEvoy and Steele keyed a 21-13 run to turn the game around.

Steele had another big game and probably wishes he had another opportunity for a slam dunk, which he missed badly in the third quarter. Nevertheless, the senior had another solid performance, and although he has not been especially dominant this season, he has been consistent, and that’s all you could ask for out of this impressive 6-5 specimen.

Jason Godoy finished with 11 points, including a couple of big baskets in the fourth quarter. He also pulled down a handful of key rebounds while Steele was on the bench.

“He’s made us a much better team kind of sacrificing himself by coming off the bench,” Quinn said.

Last Thursday, Newtown used a workman-like performance to defeat Brookfield, 67-58, on the road.

“We came out a little flat and missed some easy shots, but we came together and played pretty well,” said Quinn. “Brookfield is not having a very strong year, but they’re big. They play hard for awhile then run out of gas.”

Once the tank was dry, the Nighthawks went for the kill, outscoring Brookfield 50-33 during the second and fourth quarters. Fiscella had another huge game, scoring 25 points. Steele added 18.

Is The Best Still To Come?

The best news of all may be the fact that Newtown still has not played its best basketball. This group has the potential to dominate the Bethels and the Brookfields of the world, but they still tend to make too many mistakes – on both ends of the floor. The good teams make you pay and Newtown has found that out the hard way against the likes of Pomperaug, Immaculate and Notre Dame. Get rid of a few kinks and Newtown could surprise one of those upper echelon teams. First, however, it must rely on that mistake-free kind of play to beat Jonathan Law, Weston, Joel Barlow and Foran – the four teams still left on the schedule.

Newtown hosts a weak Jonathan Law team Friday night, then welcomes an upstart Joel Barlow team next Tuesday. The Falcons upset Bunnell, 58-54, Tuesday to raise its league mark to 6-5. In other upset news, Masuk defeated Kolbe-Cathedral Tuesday, 64-62, to further complicate the playoff picture.

NOTES: Newtown has gone to the line 56 times over its past two games, converting on 38 of those attempts.

 

NEWTOWN    10  21  12  17 - 60

BETHEL       13  17  11  12 - 53

 

NEWTOWN (60): Courtney Steele 6 3-4 15, Jason Godoy 4 0-0 11, John Fiscella 1 5-6 7, Bret McEvoy 5 0-2 11, Rich Engel 1 4-4 6, John Wesley 1 0-0 2, Andrew Smith 0 0-2 0, Josh Dittmar 4 2-2 11, Jeff Wolcott 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 14-20 60.

BETHEL (53): Ryan Macuirynznski 1 0-0 2, Brian Budner 5 0-0 12, Aaron Conley 2 0-1 4, Jason McDougal 7 0-1 16, Rob Johnson 0 1-2 1, Joe DiMeglio 6 1-2 14, Andrew Ackerman 1 0-0 2, Jeremy Pokelemba 1 0-0 2. Totals: 23 2-5 53.

Three-pointers: Godoy (N) 2, McEvoy (N), Dittmar (N), Budner (B) 2, McDougal (B) 2, DiMeglio (B).

 

NEWTOWN    10  23    7  27 - 67

BROOKFIELD 15  13  10  20 - 58

 

NEWTOWN (67): Courtney Steele 6 4-8 18, Jason Godoy 3 0-0 8, John Fiscella 6 11-16 25, Bret McEvoy 0 0-0 0, Rich Engel 0 4-6 4, John Wesley 1 0-0 2, Andrew Smith 1 3-4 5, Josh Dittmar 1 2-2 5. Totals: 18 24-36 67.

BROOKFIELD (58): James Kelleher 2 1-2 6, Eric Glassman 1 1-2 3, Andy Edwards 7 2-4 17, Jack Ormiston 1 0-0 2, Rob Tierney 1 0-0 2, Paul Holko 3 2-2 8, Stew Hohenshelt 7 2-3 16, Adam Hofmeister 0 2-2 2. Totals: 22 10-15 58.

Three-pointers: Godoy (N) 2, Fiscella (N) 2, Dittmar (N), Steele (N) 2, Kelleher (Br), Edwards (Br).