The old adage “it’s not how you start but how you finish that is important,” is one the Newtown High School boys’ basketball team has embraced.

Falling behind early, trailing after one quarter of play, and battling back to claim victory has become standard for the Nighthawks en route to a strong 8-3 overall record just through the season’s mid-point.

The Nighthawks fell behind by seven points after one quarter of play, finished the opening half on a 21-4 run for a 25-17 lead at the intermission, and rolled to a 55-42 victory over visiting Weston on January 20.

“Typical game — this is the only way we know how to play. I don’t know what to do other than commend them when they come back,” said Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch, whose team has had to dig out of an early hole in almost every game thus far.

A key to the winning ways has also been stingy defense. Newtown, with a 48-39 victory at Torrington the next day — made it five straight contests holding the opposition to 43 or fewer points. That is a good recipe for success.

“We defended really well,” Tallcouch said. “We’re taking teams out of what they do best. We’re focusing on some players, trying to take them out of their game, their comfort zone. We’re rebounding, which helps.”

Even in losses, the defense is keeping NHS in it. Newtown held Staples of Westport to what remains its season low point total in a 48-47 nail-biting setback earlier in the slate.

The Weston game was a physical battle of South-West Conference foes then with 6-3 overall records. Having played in some where is the whistle? type practically foul-free games of late, this one was a rarity for Newtown. The teams combined for 43 free throw attempts, 30 of which went to Newtown; the Hawks made 22 of those freebee attempts. The Weston fouls were a product of the visiting Trojans attempting to do what Newtown does — throw the opponent off its game — Tallcouch said.

“We want to be able to attack the rim. They did everything they could to take us out of our rhythm. They tried to make the game slow, muck it up, trying to make our kids uncomfortable. But our kids persevered,” Tallcouch said.

Connor Hintze, Ben Barber, and Andrew Grenier — who logged his first varsity points — stepped up nicely for the Nighthawks. Declan Regan was a monster on the boards, collecting 22 rebounds. He had to raise his game with Eli Williams in foul trouble early on.

The Weston-game version of NHS coming from behind featured Newtown limiting the Trojans to a single field goal and just three points in the second quarter. A Hintze steal led to Regan’s fast-break bucket and a Hintze left corner 3-pointer got Newtown within two points early in the second. Trailing 17-14, Newtown finished the half on an 11-0 run. Hintze made a free throw and Barber tapped in the rebound of the second foul shot attempt to even the score with 3:09 left in the quarter.

With 2:31 left before the break, Makai Coleman made two free throws for Newtown’s first advantage, a lead the Hawks would not relinquish. Regan’s rebounding prowess coupled with Weston’s foul trouble equated to Newtown cashing in with points effectively from the backcourt. Regan was fouled after a defensive rebound and canned two free throws to extend the lead. Saahil Ray’s drive and scoop shot for two points, and Barber’s tenacity under the rim led to third-chance Nighthawk points to close out the first-half scoring.

After a Weston free throw opened the scoring in the third, Newtown quickly built a double-digit lead. A Hintze pull up jumper and Regan’s strong baseline move to the basket pushed the lead to 29-18 less than two minutes into the stanza.

Grenier drilled a 3-pointer for his first varsity basket, making it 33-20. Grenier later added a pair of free throws. Newtown led 35-24 going to the fourth and the momentum was punctuated by a late-quarter block by Hintze.

Smooth team play and ball sharing helped Newtown increase its lead to 17 and the Hawks cruised to the finish line of this one. Coleman scored 15 points, 11 of them coming on 13 foul shot attempts; Regan had 14 to go along with his 22 rebounds for a double-double; Hintze scored nine; Barber seven; and Grenier and Ray both finished with five. Regan had three steals and Coleman and Ray came away with two each among Newtown’s ten team thefts.

Newtown got back at it with a quick turnaround, at nonconference team Torrington a day later. The rare back-to-back scheduling has its advantages, Tallcouch thought going into the second half of the two consecutive tilts.

“It keeps you focused because you have to do it again the next day,” he said.

True to form, the Nighthawks fell behind only to end up on top. Down 12-9 after one, the Hawks outscored Torrington 17-9 in the second for a 26-21 halftime lead. The teams were even in the third quarter and the score was 40-35 going to the final quarter. Newtown held its opponent to just four points in the fourth and pulled away.

Coleman had 20 points, five rebounds, and three assists to lead the way; Regan had eight points and 13 more rebounds; Ray collected six points, eight rebounds, and five assists; Hintze dropped in six points; Williams contributed four points and six rebounds; and Barber had two points and six rebounds.

“Really proud of these players. Their defense focus has been off the charts and their ability to digest and run what I’ve concocted this season for this specific group has been great to see,” Tallcouch said of his team members executing game plans night in and night out.

Back into SWC action, the Hawks hosted Masuk of Monroe on January 24 and suffered just their fourth loss as Coach Pete Szklarz and the Panthers fended off another NHS comeback bid for a 66-62 win. Hintze had a career-high 18 points, and Williams and Regan both collected nine rebounds.

This time Newtown jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half before falling behind by 13 points through three quarters of play.

Potential good thing from tonight, we can learn from our mistakes, play with more energy with the lead, come with a renewed passion to practice and move forward. We were up 14 in the first and to Masuk’s credit they fought back and took control of the game. We were up only two at the half and what has generally been pretty good third quarters for us did not happen tonight,” Tallcouch said.

Newtown was outscored 23-8 in the third. “To our players’ credit, we outscored Masuk 25-16 in the fourth and cut it to two points but just couldn’t quite make it over the hump after Declan Regan, Makai Coleman, and Saahil Ray fouled out. Our defense, which has been our strong point this season, holding SWC opponents to about 42 points per game, was not there tonight. It happens."

Newtown visits the Stratford Red Devils on Friday, January 27 at 7 pm. NHS returns home Tuesday, January 31 to host Notre Dame-Fairfield, also at 7 o’clock.

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