DANBURY — The never-quit Newtown High School boys’ basketball team had a late-game surge before falling 66-55 to the host Immaculate Mustangs in the South-West Conference tournament quarterfinals, on March 18.

Trailing by as many as 17 points late in the third quarter, the sixth-seeded Nighthawks climbed to within seven just 2:15 into the fourth quarter, and trailed by six with just under one minute remaining before the third-seeded Mustangs closed things out at the free throw line.

The comeback effort was, in some ways, a microcosm of the season for this Nighthawk team which after a 2-5 start, made up ground fast with four consecutive victories to earn a first-round playoff home game, then winning their fifth in a row by knocking off New Milford to earn the visit to Immaculate.

“Fought til the end. I’m so proud of these kids. I’ve said it 800,000 times — they never quit on the season. They’re the reason we had an opportunity tonight,” Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch said.

“This group of kids — they just won’t quit, they won’t quit. That’s what’s made this season so satisfying for me,” the coach added.

Newtown lost by 22 points to the Mustangs in their first meeting, just two games into the season. This time, with the Mustangs on the verge of pulling away, the Hawks went to work to give themselves a chance in the rematch.

Down 46-31 to begin the final stanza, the Hawks quickly pulled to within nine on back-to-back 3-pointers by Joe McCray and Jack Petersen. The Nighthawks had three possessions to carve further into the deficit and finally did when Isaiah Williams was fouled and Saahil Ray, who stepped up to the free throw line in place of Williams who temporarily exited with an injury, sank a pair of foul shots. That made it 46-39 with 5:45 to play.

The Mustangs answered with a 7-0 run. Newtown again clawed back, sparked by a Petersen 3-pointer, a Cam Ward steal that led to a pair of Petersen free throws, and Williams steal and layup. NHS trailed 61-55 with just under one minute left.

Immaculate made 14 of 18 foul shots in the fourth; almost all of its scoring — 22 points in the final period — came from the charity stripe.

Petersen finished with 22 points, a dozen of which were scored in the fourth, to go along with six assists and seven rebounds. Williams finished with 16 points and a whopping 17 rebounds. McCray had ten points, and Ward contributed five points and grabbed six rebounds.

Newtown players dove to the floor, forced jump balls and turnovers, and showed the sort of fight Tallcouch appreciated from his mostly young roster. Petersen, the only senior of the bunch, led the way throughout the campaign and in what ended up being his last high school basketball contest.

“To me, he is what every coach should experience in their coaching career — a kid that plays both sides of the ball, that’s a leader, role model. He plays hard every single minute,” Tallcouch said of Petersen.

Newtown’s coach had a message for his team immediately following the setback: Let it sting for a while.

“You’ve got to let this loss hurt a little bit in order to fuel your offseason,” said Tallcouch, adding that the offseason, in turn, will drive the team to success next year.