Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team won its third game in a row and improved to 5-3 overall with a 63-57 victory over visiting Immaculate of Danbury on January 8.

The Nighthawks were coming off a 47-29 win at Bethel on January 4 and a 70-58 victory at Greenwich on January 6. The Nighthawks have won five of their last six games and are settling in as the season wears on.

“I think we’re getting contributions from everyone,” said Newtown Coach Matt Murphy, who used 15 players against Bethel, ten in the win over Greenwich, and 11 against Immaculate. “They’re working hard and they’re coming together. ... We’re a work in progress but we’re taking steps in the right direction.”

In the win over Bethel, the Nighthawks outscored the Wildcats 14-4 in each of the first two quarters to build a commanding 28-8 halftime lead. Makai Coleman scored 18 points to lead the Nighthawks.

Against Greenwich, the Nighthawks established a 36-25 halftime advantage and pulled ahead 60-40 heading to the fourth. Coleman led the charge with 34 points and Aidan Walker contributed 13. Declan Regan scored eight and Ben Barber added seven. Coleman hit six 3-pointers and Walker nailed a trio from downtown.

In the Immaculate game, the Nighthawks looked good in transition and shot free throws well down the stretch to ice things. The Hawks overcame a bit of a slow start to go on some key, extended scoring runs, and withstood several late-game Mustang rallies.

It took the Nighthawks 2:59 to score their first points, then rattled off eight in a minute’s time to claim an 8-2 lead, prompting the Mustangs to call timeout. Newtown built a 12-5 lead but saw the Mustangs finish the quarter strong to tie things at 12 apiece heading to the second, then added a free throw to cap an 8-0 run and take a 13-12 lead early in the second.

The Hawks went on a 17-5 run sparked by a pair of Coleman 3-pointers and one from behind the arc by Andrew Grenier. Immaculate scored the final basket of the half but found itself trailing 29-20 at the intermission.

In the third quarter, after Immaculate got within seven, Walker drove the hoop and scored off the glass and followed with a 3-pointer for a ten-point lead just past the mid-point of the stanza. Immaculate eventually clawed to within four points but a layup by Coleman, mid-range jumper by Coleman, and Emmet Regan baseline jumper pushed the lead back to double-digits. The Mustangs hit a late 3-pointer and trailed 44-37 going to the fourth.

Immaculate got to within five points five times and sliced the deficit to four twice in the final period, but the Nighthawks held on. Grenier and Asher Williams had baskets to reinstate seven-point leads. Newtown’s defense, which earlier forced a 35-second shot clock violation against the Mustangs, locked down and caused a five-second violation. Ryan Zaniewski’s hoop in close pushed the lead to nine at 50-41 with 5:25 left.

Immaculate got to within four points before a Declan Regan foul shot following an offensive rebound, then was within five again before Coleman answered with a pull-up shot from the left elbow making it 53-46 with 3:43 to go.

The teams traded baskets. Regan’s offensive rebound and putback made it 55-48 with 2:37 left. Coleman hit five out of six foul shots and Walker drained three of four down the stretch.

Coleman led all scorers with 25 points to go along with four assists and two steals; Grenier had nine points and a pair of steals; and Walker and Zaniewski both chipped in with eight points. Zaniewski also had five steals and two assists. Barber grabbed 11 rebounds, nine of which came on defense; Williams grabbed ten rebounds, nine on the defensive end; and Declan Regan had six rebounds.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.