NHS Boys’ Basketball Topples Masuk—

Hawks Rebound From Tough Loss To Get ‘Most Solid Win’

By Andy Hutchison

The Newtown High School boys’ basketball team, one game after a hard-to-swallow setback to unbeaten Stratford, bounced back for what Coach John Quinn said was his team’s best win of the campaign.

Newtown held Masuk to its second-lowest scoring game of the season in a 64-50 win at home on January 22. The Nighthawks improved to 9-2 overall and Masuk fell to 7-4.

“I think they’re one of the best-coached teams in the league, so I knew that was going to be a real, real tough game,” Quinn said. “From start to finish, this was — hands down — our most solid game. Taking care of the ball, never letting them get back in, and we played good defense.”

That strong defensive effort held Masuk without a field goal until the midpoint of the first quarter and limited the Panthers to just 18 first-half points.

Andy Lapple led the way with 20 points and Josh Engler had 16 for Newtown. Dan Lynch and Peter Manos both scored eight points, Casey Tenney had five, Matt Datin added four, and George Zarbua provided three.

The Nighthawks, after watching a 15-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter of a three-point loss to Stratford in their previous game, carried a 17-point lead into the fourth against Masuk.

“It was a mirror image — right?” Quinn commented after the game. “We’re playing a very good team in our building with a great crowd. We had a great finish to the third quarter. … And this time the kids weren’t going to let it happen. So I’m encouraged as a coach. We learned a very valuable lesson from the last time.”

Against Stratford, Newtown was outscored 27-9 in the final period. Against Masuk, the Hawks made sure not to let the game slip away.

“We played good defense in the fourth quarter and we kept scoring — unlike the Stratford game,” Tenney said.

Newtown maintained the lead throughout the game thanks, in part, to Lapple’s propensity to weave through the defense and drive to the rim.

“It feels good. My shots from outside haven’t been that great so I have to go to the hoop more and more,” Lapple said.

He played aggressively despite hurting and later re-aggravating his arm in this game. Quinn was impressed with the gutsy effort Lapple put forth.

“He played his heart out. He made sure we weren’t going to lose,” the coach said.

The Nighthawks continue to shoot the ball well. Led by Engler’s 42-percent 3-point shooting effort through the Masuk game, they’ve hit better than a third of their 3-point shots. Lapple leads the way with 73 rebounds, Lynch is the team’s assist leader with 41 handouts, and Tenney has a team-high 30 steals.

“We want to win every game from now on,” Manos said after the Masuk game.

So far, so good.

The Nighthawks won again on January 26, coming out on top 75-53 at Bunnell High in Stratford to improve to 10-2 overall.

Engler led the way with 22 points, Lynch dropped in 16, Zaruba scored 14 and Lapple added 11. Newtown put together a late second-quarter surge to take an eight-point lead into the break and carried that momentum in the second half to pull away. Quinn was most encouraged by his team’s free throw shooting effort. The Hawks were 21-of-25 as a team. Engler sank 11-for-12 from the charity stripe.

Newtown has eight games remaining before the start of postseason. NHS visits Immaculate in Danbury on Friday, January 29, and the Hawks’ next home game is set for February 2 when Bethel comes to town.

Immaculate may only be 4-7 overall, but Quinn says the Hawks certainly can’t look past their rivals.

“Their record is deceiving,” the coach said. “It’s a real hard place to play. It’s going to be a tough game.”