By Kim J. Harmon

A basketball game is 32 minutes long and no matter how things look after 16 minutes or 20 minutes, you gotta play all 32 minutes.

The Newtown High School boys’ basketball team realizes that, now, better than anyone after losing a 13-point lead midway through the third quarter and suffering an 11-point loss to Weston in the opening round of the South-West Conference tournament.

Now, when it comes to wrestling the seedings placed on each competitor carry only so much weight and whether or not it’s a No. 1 facing a No. 16, the match still has to be wrestled and Alex Read of Newtown turned the CIAC State Open on its air by defeating the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the 189-pound division despite slipping into the tournament as an alternate.

So, never mind what it says on paper or what it says on the scoreboard – not until the final horn.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Weston 60, Newtown 49

Weston was down.

Weston was out.

But the Newtown High School basketball team could not put their rivals away, losing a 13-point lead and suffering a staggering 60-49 defeat in the quarterfinals of the South-West Conference tournament last Saturday at Bunnell High School in Stratford.

A 24-2 run by Weston in the heart of the second half made all the difference in the game.

When Marcus Tracy took over the game at the start of the third quarter, the Nighthawks transformed a narrow three-point lead into a burgeoning 13-point lead … thanks to eight points (and one assist) from Tracy.

Even after the Trojans inched a little closer with a bucket and a pair of foul shots, sophomore guard Joe DeVellis popped in a three-pointer to put the locals back on top by 12 points, 42-30, with less than a quarter-and-a-half to play.

But then everything changed.

A pair of foul shots.

A three-pointer from the corner.

A three-point play (a basket and subsequent foul).

A 10-foot jumper.

In the space of just a couple of minutes, the entire complexion of the game had changed. Weston – which had missed numerous shots in the low box, not to mention a bunch of free throws – suddenly couldn’t miss and with a 10-0 run to close out the third and suddenly turned the SWC quarterfinal matchup into a game.

The run extended to 13-0 with another three-point play at the start of the fourth quarter and after senior center Brennan Coakley gave the locals back the lead with a pair of foul shots, the Trojans raced off an 11-0 lead to take a 54-44 lead.

Newtown knocked down just two field goals in the fourth quarter – a three-pointer by Tracy and a drive by Josh Rouse with 17 seconds left. Coakley, Rouse and Kyle Lyddy all fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter.

The ‘Hawks defeated Weston, 56-53, back on January 7 and expected another close game last weekend. The Trojans took a 12-7 lead midway through the first period, but Lyddy canned a three-pointer and added another basket to put the ‘Hawks on top, 14-12. DeVellis and Coakley both scored while Anthony Santella dished off a pair of assists and made a key steal and at the end of the opening stanza, the ‘Hawks had an 18-14 lead.

The locals expanded that lead to eight early on in the second period with a pair of baskets from DeVellis, but the lead shrank to just one late in the period on a three-point play. Tracy popped in a buzzer-beater in the lane to give the ‘Hawks a three-point lead, 29-26, at the break.

The CIAC state tournament opens this weekend. Unlike all the other sports, boys’ basketball is broken up in Division I, II, III and IV.

Weston 60, Newtown 49

NEWTOWN (49): Kyle Lyddy 3 1-2 8, Marcus Tracy 6 2-3 15, Joey DeVellis 3 0-0 7, Anthony Santella 1 0-0 2, Ryan McGrath 0 0-0 0, Kevin Troy 0 0-0 0, Kevin Quinn 1 0-0 2, Brennan Coakley 1 5-8 7, Josh Rouse 3 0-0 6. TOTALS: 19 8-13 49.

WESTON (60): Dan Seymour 0 0-0 0, Rob Sisca 4 3-6 13, Jon Fishman 1 1-2 3, Kevin Keplesky 0 0-0 0, Tom Jamieson 3 3-3 10, Dave Chase 3 4-5 10, John Galvin 6 12-16 24. TOTALS: 17 23-32 60.

Three-pointers: Kyle Lyddy (N), Marcus Tracy (N), Joey DeVellis (N), Sisca (W) 2, Jamieson (W).

WRESTLING

CIAC State Open

Injury opened the door for Newtown wrestler Alex Read and he did not let the opportunity go to waste.

After finishing fifth in the 189-pound division at the CIAC Class LL championships on February 18 and 19, Read’s high school wrestling career should have been over. But Matt Vernik of Amity was forced to withdraw from the Opens because of an injury … thus opening the door for Read.

And with two wins (over the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds), Read finished eighth and concluded his career with 103 wins – becoming the fifth Newtown wrestler to join the 100-win club behind James Monroe (147), Jon Read (136), Steve Selezan (121), Nick Feola (108) and Kyle Turoczi (100).

“Getting to Opens is very tough and the key to doing well is raising your game because everyone is really good at Opens,” said head coach Al Potter. “Only the best 16 kids in the state get to go. Alex got out of the blocks slowly on Friday, but we spoke about it afterward and he responded by wrestling some of his best matches of his career. I won’t soon forget how he pinned (Nick) Rankin from NFA on Saturday in just a super match. Alex stepped it up big time and I am proud of him. It was a nice finish for our SWC champion.”

Rankin was ranked No. 1 in the state all season until last week when he lost to Fairfield’s Anthony Parish. With that impetus, Parish went on to capture the 189-pound State Open title with a 6-4 win over Billy Haire of Darien.

The tournament did not start off too well for Read, though, as the senior was hammered by two-time Class S champion Billy Williams of Windham Tech, 17-1. Facing elimination, Read turned things around in his next match and pinned No. 3 seed Matt Dabrowski of Bristol Central (Class L) in 3:49 with a strong front headlock cradle.

That win allowed Read to advance to Saturday action and he started his day with a pin in 3:34 of No. 2 seed Nick Rankin of Norwich Free Academy, who had boasted a 27-1 record entering the State Open tournament. In a back and forth match, each wrestler had the other on his back twice before Read finished Rankin off with a Granby roll into a side headlock.

But Read’s to a New England Tournament berth was stopped short with a 5-0 loss to Nate Shippee of East Catholic in the consolation semi finals.

On top of the 103 wins (37 of those this year), Read also finish his career with 55 pins and a host of accolades – 2005 All-SWC, three-time SWC medallist, and 2005 Class LL medallist.

“I really enjoyed wrestling as part of this team with a great bunch of friends over the past four years,” said Read. “I’ll never forget it.  I also wanted to thank coach Potter, coach (Steve) Ford and coach (Angelo) Bodetti for their time and effort. I could have never have done any of this without them.”

As a team, Newtown finished 55th out of 111 schools at the Opens.

SWIMMING

SWC Championship

Some personal best times.

A couple more CIAC qualifiers.

A fun meet.

The goals are pretty simple – and realistic – for the Newtown High School swim team as it heads into the South-West Conference championships this week (diving was on Wednesday with swimming on Friday) at Pomperaug High School in Southbury.

Finishing first or second is far too lofty a goal for the Nighthawks (who finished 7-3 overall and 5-3 in the SWC) – those two spots belong to Pomperaug and Brookfield – but after that, who knows?

“We can see what Pomperaug and Brookfield have,” said coach Childs. “Those top three teams are the top three teams and we fall with the rest (of the league). I’m not concerned with how we fall, place-wise … as long as we swim well. If we swim well, then anything can happen.”

Newtown’s best chances for an individual title rest, perhaps, with Andrew Heller in the 100 butterfly, Chris Jacob in the 50 and 100 freestyles, and Bryan Lacouture in diving. But competition in all four events will be mighty stiff.

“We should have some really exciting races,” said coach Childs. “I’m hoping we’ll have two more swimmers qualify for the states and I think we can get some best times for all our relays and set up the seedings for the states.”

The CIAC trials will begin on Saturday, March 12, at Southern Connecticut State University with the finals to follow on Tuesday, March 15 at Wesleyan University in Middletown. The CIAC State Open will close out the 2004-05 season on Saturday, March 19, at Yale in New Haven.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

CIAC Class LL

The 17th-seeded Newtown High School girls’ basketball team was all set to open the CIAC Class LL state tournament on Monday night with a trip to 16th-seeded Newington, but inclement weather forced the postponement of the game until Wednesday (after press time).

The Lady Nighthawks finished the 2004-05 regular season at 13-7, as did the Lady Indians and Lady Panthers of E.O. Smith in Storrs. But Newington earned the 16th seed – and home game – based on power points.

Either way, it is a decidedly unenviable position to be in as the winner earns the right to visit top-seeded Manchester (20-0), which presumably will dispatch 33rd-seeded Middletown (8-12) in first round action.

The rankings –

  1.         Manchester               20-0

  2.         Mercy                        20-0

  3.         Trumbull                    19-1

  4.         Bulkeley                    18-2

  5.         Westhill                     17-3

  6.         Windsor                     16-4

  7.         South Windsor           16-4

  8.         Farmington                16-4

  9.         Staples                       15-5

10.         Southington               15-5

11.         New Britain              14-6

12.         Fairfield Warde         14-6

13.         Danbury                    14-6

14.         Norwich Free            14-6

15.         Torrington                 14-6

16.         Newington                13-7

17.         Newtown                  13-7

18.         E.O. Smith                 13-7

19.         Bristol Eastern           12-8

20.         Hamden                    12-8

21.         Hall                           12-8

22.         Wilbur Cross              12-8

23.         New Milford             12-8

24.         Bunnell                      11-9

25.         Simsbury                  10-10

26.         Glastonbury            10-10

27.         West Haven            10-10

28.         Ridgefield                10-10

29.         Norwalk                  10-10

30.         Cheshire                    9-11

31.         Bridgeport Central    8-10

32.         Naugatuck                8-12

33.         Middletown               8-12