Newtown High School's boys' basketball team improved to 3-0 with a 57-35 nonconference victory over host Capital Prep of Hartford on December 21.

The Nighthawks jumped out to a 15-4 lead after one quarter of play and were ahead 28-18 at halftime. It was 36-28 heading to the fourth, and the Hawks pulled away by outscoring the Trailblazers 21-7 in the final stanza.

Tucker Garrity led Newtown with 17 points, Robert DiSibio scored 14, Jack Petersen 13, and Riley Ward 11.

Ward and DiSibio had five and four assists, respectively. Ward and Garrity both had four of Newtown's 12 steals. DiSibio had seven rebounds, Garrity and Petersen both pulled down six, Jack Mulligan had five, and Shea Talbot four. Garrity also had a pair of shot blocks, and Mulligan had a block.

"Solid win on the road with great contributions from all who played, especially Jack Petersen in his first start of his career. Every time Capital Prep made a run at us in the second half, Jack nailed a 3. He had 11 big points in the second half, including 3-for-3 from downtown," Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch said. "A 3-0 start is exactly where we wanted to be, and heading to the Staples Holiday Tournament with a first round matchup with Pomperaug."

The Hawks are slated to take on Pomperaug of Southbury, a South-West Conference rival they upset in last year's state playoffs as part of their march to the semifinals on Thursday, December 27 at 3 pm. This is a nonconference game as the teams will square off again this winter.

Newtown will play either host Staples of Westport or Westhill of Stamford on Saturday, December 29 (time to be determined).

Now the key is to stay focused, as our routine is broken by the holidays and school being out until January 2 I expect us to respond to the challenge," Tallcouch said.