By Steve Bigham

MONROE – John Quinn celebrated a birthday this past weekend and, in his honor, his sister-in-law gave him a Guardian Angel pin for good luck.

On Saturday, the pin worked wonders as the Newtown High School boy’s basketball team rallied to beat Bunnell in the South-West Conference quarterfinals. On Tuesday, however, the pin simply was not enough to help the coach lead his cold-shooting team to victory.

The Nighthawks struggled all night on their way to a 52-44 loss to Immaculate in the SWC semi-finals at Masuk High School in Monroe. Immaculate (18-4) will now face top-seeded Kolbe-Cathedral of Bridgeport (20-2) for the league title Friday night at Masuk.

“Well, the angel didn’t work tonight,” Quinn said when he arrived home late Tuesday night.

His son, Patrick, jokingly responded, ““Dad, what did you expect? You were playing Immaculate.”

It was the kind of humor that has enabled Quinn to come to terms with the loss, which – plain and simple – was a direct result of Newtown (15-7) having its worst shooting night of the year.

“It certainly gave us good fortune on Saturday,” Quinn said of the pin. “I kept rubbing it and rubbing it on Tuesday, but it didn’t have the same result.”

Of course, who would have figured that Newtown would have shot a paltry 25 percent from the field? Who could have guessed that leading scorer John Fiscella, who injured his elbow early in the game, would be held to just three points? Who could have ever imagined point guard Andrew Fiscella would have fouled out midway through the fourth quarter? And no one expected Immaculate to shoot 28 foul shots to Newtown’s nine.

“We picked the worst game of the year to not make any shots. When we had a nice run, we missed some easy shots. We just didn’t finish. It’s very frustrating because I felt we had a real good chance to move on to the finals,” Quinn said.

Newtown, trailing for much of the game, took its first lead with four seconds remaining in the third quarter on a 10-foot jumper by John Wesley. The basket capped an 11-2 Newtown run and gave the locals at 28-27 lead. With a charged up crowd at their backs, the Nighthawks entered the fourth quarter primed for the victory. But Anthony Simone’s three-point play at the 6:51 mark gave the second-seeded Mustangs the lead, which they would never relinquish.

After another Immaculate basket, Smith (12 points), who has already been selected to the All-Tournament team, scored on a turnaround move in the lane to make it, 32-30. Moments later, Immaculate’s Tom Wilson (12 points, 15 rebounds) converted a three-point play off an offensive rebound. Fiscella answered with a three-point play of his own and, after another Immaculate score, Ryan Walker (11 points) converted inside. Smith’s three-point play at the 4:44-mark cut the deficit to one.

But just as Newtown appeared to have regained the momentum, Smith was whistled for his fifth foul, forcing him to the bench. Still in the game, however, the Nighthawks battled on, despite the fact that Immaculate’s tiny guards were converting one foul shot after another. Walker’s pass to a cutting Mike Troy led to two more points – Immaculate 43, Newtown 40.

From that point on, however, Newtown suffered what can best be described as a malaise. Despite trailing by no more than four or five points, the game appeared to be over.

“We just couldn’t shoot and, to their credit, they controlled the ball and made their foul shots,” Quinn said. “This was the toughest loss in three years.”

In the first half, Newtown missed a handful of easy lay ups and fired up blanks from the perimeter. It all worked right into the hands of Immaculate coach Bob Nelson, whose game plan appeared to be for his team to get the lead and then control the ball, forcing Newtown into a panicky defense. When Newtown had possession, the Mustangs threw a variety of defenses at it, forcing the locals into countless bad shots.

“We only had three points in the second quarter. I told the kids at halftime that if we finish and run some plays we can win. We ran some good plays, but we didn’t finish,” Quinn said.

Immaculate had four players score in double figures. The two teams split their two regular season match ups with Newtown winning the first contest, 77-68, back in late January and Immaculate winning in overtime back in December in a game that, like Tuesday’s, saw Smith foul out late.

“It’s so tough when it’s over,” Quinn said. “As high as I was Saturday, that’s how down I was last night. I felt we had a very good chance to be in the finals.”

But Newtown does still have the CIAC Class LL state tournament to look forward to and it could very well go a long way . . . longer than most Newtown teams have gone in the past. It is expected to host a first round game sometime early next week.

“We’re not going to go out with two losses in a row. We’re too good for that,” Quinn said.

Newtown opened the season 0-4 and has since gone 15-3.

 

Big Second Half Lifts Newtown Over Bunnell

Last Saturday, Newtown played its best 16 minutes of the season in the second half on it way to a convincing 53-37 win over sixth-seeded Bunnell (14-7), which had the luxury of playing on its home floor. Trailing 22-19 at halftime, the Nighthawks showed the Bulldogs why they were the third seed, outscoring them 18-4 in the third quarter. Newtown then increased that lead in the fourth quarter and held on for the victory.

Dittmar and Walker were especially impressive in the second half. At one point, Dittmar rattled off eight-straight points, while Walker came up with one huge defensive play after another.

“It was the best half of basketball we’ve played all season, particularly under the circumstances. You can’t expect any better of a performance than that,” Quinn said.

Newtown’s performance against Bunnell was a bit of a microcosm of the whole season. After a slow start, the Nighthawks made a run in the second half that turned a lot of heads. Walker (10 points) and Dittmar (14 points) keyed an 8-0 run to open the second half which set the tone the rest of the way. John Wesley (11 points) hit the second of his two three-pointers to give Newtown a 37-26 advantage with 1:59 to go in the third period. Bunnell was all-but done.

John Fiscella added nine points in the win.

Andrew Fiscella’s three-pointer in the second quarter helped kick start the Nighthawk offense, which, up to that point, had been ineffective.