The start of the game and beginning of the second half were difference-makers in Newtown High School's boys' basketball team's season opener, against visiting Fitch of Groton, on Saturday afternoon.

The Nighthawks won 71-59, never relinquishing the lead, despite Fitch battling back throughout the contest.

Newtown jumped out to a 12-0 lead and turned a 33-26 halftime lead into a 44-28 advantage behind an 11-2 run to begin the third quarter.

Robert DiSibio hit five of Newtown's 3-pointers and dropped in a game-best 25 points to lead the way.

Shea Talbot scored 19 points, Todd Petersen had 11, Nick Weiland dropped in seven, Evan Eggleston scored five, and Tucker Garrity added four.

The Nighthawks were strong from the foul line, and certainly got there a lot - three Fitch players fouled out - and the Hawks made 17 of 23 attempts.

Most impressive for Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch, was the teamwork.

"I thought we shared the ball well, said Tallcouch, adding that the Hawks tallied 17 assists. "I cant be disappointed with that."

Riley Ward, behind his drive and dish out approach, led the Hawks with seven assists, and Eggleston had five.

Ward used his quick hands to come away with four of his team's 11 steals, and Talbot also did a nice job in helping create turnovers with a trio of takeaways.

Petersen had three of Newtown's six blocks. Petersen pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds, DiSibio had nine rebounds, and Talbot tacked on five.

Warde leaped out of bounds to save the ball moments into the second half, leading to a Weiland 3-pointer for a 36-26 lead.

Back to back 3-point efforts by DiSibio - one the old fashioned way with a field goal plus foul shot, and the other via a bucket from downtown - helped the Hawks build their 16-point cushion.

Fitch responded with an 8-0 run to slice the lead in half less than three minutes into the third quarter.

The Hawks went up 13 and Fitch had a chance to get the lead down to seven on a Newtown foul during a last-second of the quarter 3-point attempt. Fitch made just one of three foul shots and trailed by nine, 52-43 heading into the fourth.

A Fitch 3-pointer got the deficit to six only ten seconds into the fourth.

With Fitch in early foul trouble, Weiland hit a front end one and one foul shot opportunity, and drained his second attempt for a 54-46 lead less than a minute into the fourth.

Another Fitch 3-pointer had the lead down to five.

Talbot made good on both ends of a one and one opportunity. After a Fitch hoop, Garrity's layup got the lead back to seven, 58-51, with 5:53 to go.

Fitch got no closer. Steals by Talbot and Garrity, and a jump ball forced Talbot and Garrity helped Newtown pull away.

DiSibio, who did most of his work from long range work from the right elbow, hit one for a 65-51 lead with 3:22 left. The lead ballooned to 16 again before Fitch tacked on some late-game points.

"For the most part, we played four quarters of focused basketball," Tallcouch said. "We can still continue to work and get better on the defensive end."

Newtown will host Capital Prep on Tuesday, December 19, beginning at 6 pm.