Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team erased an 11-point deficit in the second half to edge visiting Capital Prep of Hartford 54-53 in overtime of the Division III state tournament’s first round, on March 5.

Robert DiSibio broke the tie by making the second of two free throw attempts with just five seconds remaining, and the Nighthawks survived a last-second upset bid by the Trailblazers, whom the Nighthawks had beaten convincingly, 57-35, on the road and early in the season.

“Happy we’re going to Naugy,” Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch said of his No. 11 Nighthawks advancing to face No. 6 Naugatuck, in the second round on Thursday, March 7; tipoff is at 7 pm.

The Nighthawks looked relieved if not shocked they had pulled off the win. It was a surprising outcome on two fronts: Given the lopsided win in the first matchup, Newtown had good reason to be brimming with confidence; and Newtown got to be on the winning side of a close one after being on the losing end of several nail-biters this winter.

“Too many of these were left on the table,” Tallcouch said of his team suffering six hard-fought defeats in the regular season. “I’m proud of the guys, the way they fought back all night.”

Newtown led 7-6 in the first quarter before falling behind 14-7 after one quarter and 27-24 at the half. The Nighthawks missed in-close shots and got outrebounded for a stretch as the Trailblazer lead grew to 41-30 late in the third quarter.

The Nighthawks got to within seven, at 41-34 through three stanzas and clawed back to force OT. They took their first lead since that early one-point edge during the extra period, a four-minute overtime.

Jack Petersen’s left corner 3-pointer opened the fourth-scoring and got the deficit down to five, and Todd Petersen’s baseline drive for a bucket trimmed the lead back to a single possession. Jack Petersen’s long-range field goal cut a four-point lead in half, making it 44-42 with 5:38 to play.

Capital Prep went back up five points before Todd Petersen’s spin move to the rim pulled the Hawks back to within three with 3:42 left. Jack Mulligan cut the basket and took a pass from Todd Petersen to score and get the lead down to a point at 47-46 with 1:16 showing on the scoreboard clock.

DiSibio hit the second of two free throws with 30 seconds left to tie the game for the first time since 2-2, forcing OT.

In overtime, DiSibio drove to the rim and pulled up for a jumper in the lane for a 49-47 NHS lead, its first since the opening minutes. The Trailblazers got the next four points before Mulligan took an inbound pass from under the hoop and scored, making it 51 apiece with 2:27 to go.

Capital Prep reclaimed the lead seconds later. Todd Petersen made another baseline move to the hoop and tied things at 53 with 1:49 left.

Both teams had multiple chances to break the tie. Todd Petersen had a timely block, and Riley Ward forced a held ball. Finally, DiSibio drove to the rim and was fouled in the waning seconds, setting up his winning free throw.

DiSibio had a triple-double, finishing with 21 points, 11 assists, and ten rebounds. Tucker Garrity scored eight. Todd Petersen and Jack Petersen had seven apiece — all coming in the second half and overtime. Mulligan six, and Ward five. 

[naviga:font color="#14171a" face="Segoe UI, sans-serif"]Todd Petersen, Mulligan, and Garrity had seven, six, and five rebounds as Newtown collected 33 rebounds as a team. DiSibio and Todd Petersen had four and three steals, respectively. Todd Petersen blocked two shots.

“Playoff games tend to make teams a little tense. I thought we left a lot at the rim tonight. The guys responded, persevered — they kept playing,” Tallcouch said.

And as a result, Newtown earns the right to keep playing in the tourney.

The Trailblazers finish at 8-13. Newtown (14-6 in the regular slate) moves on to face a Naugatuck team that went 15-5 this winter.