Ten was the magic number for Newtown High School's boys' basketball team in a win at South-West Conference foe Joel Barlow on January 16.

The Nighthawks answered a 10-0 Joel Barlow run in the third quarter with a 10-0 run of their own, culminating with Todd Petersen's baseline jumper 2:23 into the fourth, propelling the Nighthawks to a ten-point win, 59-49. The Hawks closed out the game by outscoring Barlow by ten, 18-8, after the Falcons had trimmed a nine-point lead to four. Newtown scored 26 points in the fourth quarter to pull away.

The Nighthawks ended a mini two-game slide, most recently falling 84-54 to host Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport on January 12, to improve to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in SWC play; Barlow fell to 5-4 and 2-1.

Three was also a significant number in this matchup as the Hawks and Falcons both drained seven 3-pointers and converted some 3-point plays.

In this game of momentum swings, the Hawks led 13-2 after one quarter of play and 24-17 at halftime. Robert DiSibio's 3-pointer made it a ten-point game moments into the third quarter. Then the Falcons reeled off ten straight before another DiSibio 3-pointer, with 2:50 left in the quarter, ended a nearly five-minute scoring drought for the visitors and put them ahead 30-27.

A Barlow 3-pointer tied it and the teams went back and forth to close out the stanza with Peterson's jump shot just before the buzzer spotting Newtown a 33-32 lead.

That basket started Newtown's ten unanswered points. Ryan Escoda's 3-pointer from the corner opened the fourth-quarter scoring, and Riley Ward turned a turnover at mid-court into a 3-point play the old-fashioned way, with a layup and foul shot for a 39-32 advantage.

The Falcons, after Petersen extended the lead to 41-32, called timeout and converted a 3-point play of their own five seconds later, making it 41-35 with 5:32 left. The Falcons got to within four but the Nighthawks finished with 18 of the game's last 26 points.

Petersen used his size for some easy buckets down low, and Evan Eggleston cashed in on fast-break opportunities, including a dunk despite being fouled, as the Hawks put the game out of reach.

Up 43-39, Newtown got consecutive baskets from DiSibio and Petersen. Nick Weiland answered two Barlow points with two of his own, for a 49-41 advantage, and Eggleston got the next two baskets for a 12-point NHS lead with 2:02 left.

After Newtown picked up the pace the Falcons couldn't recover.

"It seems like we do play a little bit more loosey-goosey when we just run up and down the court," Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch said. "But to beat a team like Barlow you've got to run some set offense."

The Hawks countered Barlow's player coverage switching on defense to create mismatches favoring the 6-foot-5 Petersen and 6-3 DiSibio. They ran the floor when the opportunity was there, particularly late, with the Falcons trying to push the tempo to come back.

Petersen led Newtown with 16 points, Ward and Eggleston had 15 each, and DiSibio had eight to lead Newtown. Ward had thee of Newtown's shots from downtown, and DiSibio canned a pair from long range.

DiSibio pulled down ten rebounds, and Weiland and Peterson both grabbed eight boards. Ward dished out five assists, and DiSibio and Eggleston each handed out three. Eggleston came away with four steals.

"After losing two games, I challenged the kids and they responded tonight," Tallcouch said.

The Hawks are scheduled to host Immaculate of Danbury on Friday, January 19, and Bunnell of Stratford on Tuesday, January 23 - both games begin at 7 pm.