SOUTHBURY — Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team, assuming all goes as planned, will finish off the truncated regular season with three games in as many days due to makeups forced by coronavirus protocol.

The Nighthawks entered into the final weekend of the slate hoping to earn a South-West Conference tournament home game, but facing a tough climb with tilts against challenging teams, including unbeaten Notre Dame-Fairfield.

Newtown missed out on its March 6 contest with Joel Barlow of Redding when the game was canceled. Barlow was 0-4 before having seven straight games called off due to coronavirus protocol, and hopeful of getting to play Weston in its March 13 finale. Newtown is in the midst of five games in ten days to end the season.

After a home makeup with Masuk of Monroe on Thursday, Newtown is to visit Bunnell of Stratford on Friday, March 12, at 7:15 pm, and close out the slate with Notre Dame coming to town Saturday, March 13, for an 11:30 am rescheduled contest.

“It’s grueling, but it’s better to be grueling and playing than sitting home under COVID circumstances,” said Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch, adding that the underclassmen — who compose most of his roster — are gaining valuable game experience.

When the Hawks visited Pomperaug of Southbury on March 4, they were shorthanded a couple of players due to injury and fell 72-59. The game was considerably closer than the score indicates. NHS trailed just 36-34 after a high-scoring opening half.

It was 47-42 Pomperaug after three quarters. The Hawks fell behind by ten before chipping away and three times pulling closer: A steal and a hoop by Liam O’Connell, 3-pointer by Jack Petersen, and Saahil Ray basket set up by a Joe McCray steal each got the Panther lead down to seven.

The Nighthawks were 19 for 40 in their two-point field goal attempts, but just 4 for 28 from 3-point range.

“Make three more 3’s and it’s anybody’s game. More makes translates to increased defensive energy, and we don’t need to intentionally foul down the stretch,” Tallcouch said.

“It’s not like we didn’t get some good, open looks. But we couldn’t knock them down. When you keep coming up empty, sometimes it zaps your defensive energy,” the coach added.

Newtown’s coach liked the way his team competed but noted that Pomperaug shot the ball well, including a 9-for-13 effort from the foul line in the final quarter to seal the win.

Petersen finished with 16 points, McCray and O’Connell each dropped in 12, and freshman Declan Regan was among the contributors with a basket.

McCray had six steals, and Cam Ward and Petersen had three steals each. Ward had ten rebounds to go along with four points. Petersen had six rebounds and four assists.

The Nighthawks pulled off a 78-70 win at New Milford on March 9. Tallcouch called it a character-building win. The team was shorthanded again, and Newtown’s coach said he was very proud of everybody who played. Newtown led by seven points at the half. The game was knotted at 62 after regulation. Ray hit a clutch 3-pointer late in the extra period and the Hawks went 7-for-8 from the foul line in OT to put the game away.

Petersen tallied 24 points, ten rebounds, and eight assists; O’Connell logged 20 points, going 5-for-8 from 3-ball territory; McCray had 14 points, including 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in OT, and had seven rebounds. Ward had 11 points and four rebounds; Ray collected seven points and five rebounds; and Regan had two points and a trio of rebounds. The Nighthawks improved to 3-5.

Playing so many games in a short span may be tougher on a coaching staff than on the players.

“These are young legs. They’re not my legs, so I think we’re going to be OK,” said Tallcouch, adding that he would have to manage practice routines and in-game rotations.