Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team went on the road and defeated the Bethel Wildcats 57-43 on January 12, then ventured to Immaculate of Danbury for a rematch of last year’s South-West Conference quarterfinal clash won by Newtown, on January 17. The Nighthawks used a strong defensive start to win the encore 56-42. Newtown won its third straight game and improved to 6-3 overall.

Against Bethel, Declan Regan had 17 points, five rebounds, five assists, and a steal; Makai Coleman scored 15 to go along with six rebounds, two assists, and a block; Connor Hintze scored 12 and had three rebounds, an assist, steal, and block; and Saahil Ray contributed eight points as well as seven rebounds, four assists, and a pair of steals. Eli Williams had a whopping 15 rebounds to go along with two points, four assists, four steals, and a block.

The Nighthawks had 36 team rebounds. They logged eight of 19 field goals from 3-point range; Hintze and Coleman each drained a trio of 3-pointers, and Ray connected twice from downtown. Newtown was 9-for-12 from the free throw line.

Against Immaculate, the Hawks fell behind early before outscoring the Mustangs 23-7 to close out the opening half. In the game, Coleman connected on five 3-point attempts and racked up 25 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists, and a shot block. Regan and Williams both scored eight, and Ray and Hintz both dropped in seven. Regan collected a dozen rebounds, two assists and a steal; Williams grabbed nine rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a pair of blocks; Ray had four rebounds and a trio of assists; and Ben Barber had four rebounds.

“Overall, it was the best first half of defense we’ve played. Even though down 5-0, we go in at the half up 23-12, which is not easy to do at Immaculate. Very proud of the players — total team effort and buy-in to the game plan,” Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch said. “But we’ll enjoy it until 12:30 pm on Wednesday and back to work in preparation for a six-win, underrated Weston team coming in Friday night.” Weston, also 6-3, visits NHS Friday, January 21, at 7 pm.

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