Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team nearly erased a late nine-point deficit, ultimately falling 67-65 to visiting Wilton on December 27. This was a close game through the first three quarters with the Nighthawks, in fact, holding several leads before Wilton seemingly grabbed control in the fourth quarter.

NHS led 20-17 after one quarter of play and 37-33 at the half. The Warriors pulled in front 54-51 heading to the final stanza and held the Nighthawks without a field goal for the first 5:30 of the quarter, building a 61-52 lead in the process. After a Nighthawk free throw, Emmet Regan drove in the paint and dished to Luke Stewart for an in-close hoop, making it 61-55 with 2:27 left.

Down 63-55, the Hawks pulled to within five on Aidan Walker’s 3-pointer with 1:26 left. Walker hit another 3-pointer to answer two Warrior points, leaving the score 65-61 Wilton with 39 seconds left. The Warriors missed two free throws, but got to the rebound off the second shot and, after another Nighthawk foul, hit one of two freebies. Regan’s put-back cut the lead to 66-63 with 26 seconds to go.

The Warriors hit another free throw to make it a two-possession game. Regan’s layup cut the deficit in half with 12 seconds left. The Nighthawks fouled with seven seconds showing on the scoreboard clock, and Wilton again missed two foul shots, leaving the door open for the Hawks to complete the comeback. A waning-seconds 3-pointer for the win was off the mark and the Warriors escaped with the victory.

Newtown got 21 points from Walker, who hit four 3-pointers, 16 from Stewart who also nailed four from downtown, eight from Regan, seven from Teddy Moxham, and six apiece from James Glynn and Marcus Gerace.

The Nighthawks held an 11-point lead early in the second quarter when Stewart sank a 3-pointer for a 29-18 advantage. Wilton scored the next eight points to get to within three. Walker’s layup to beat the shot clock buzzer ended the Warrior run and the teams went back and forth for the remainder of the first half and much of the third quarter.

With the Hawks clinging to a one-point lead in the third, Regan made a nice spin move to score, making it 40-37 NHS. The Warriors went on to outscore the Hawks 21-14 in the period and carried the momentum into the fourth before Newtown’s late rally.

Newtown hit a dozen 3-pointers, and Wilton made nine from beyond the arc but was limited to 28% from 3-point land as the Nighthawks guarded against Wilton’s long-range shooting prowess.

“We were well aware who their 3-point shooters were. I think, for the most part, we defended reasonably well,” said NHS Coach Matt Murphy, adding that his team needs to clean up some other things, including boxing out on free throw attempts and controlling rebounds. “We’ll get there.”

The coach was pleased with the effort against a good FCIAC team the Hawks have faced annually in recent seasons.

“Every year they’re solid. We showed a lot of heart and a lot of hustle coming back from a substantial deficit,” Murphy said.

“I love the fight. We’ve been in four really good high school basketball games and come up short in three of them. We are definitely a work in progress but it’s a long high school season and I know we’re going to get better,” the coach added.

The Nighthawks opened the season with a 75-61 win over Norwich Free Academy before losing to Darien 56-51 and Stratford 44-35.

The Hawks defeated host Northwestern 51-47 on December 30. Walker scored 17, Glynn had 11, and Stewart and Regan both added nine points.

NHS returns home Saturday, January 3, to take on Torrington at 7:15 pm. After that comes a rematch with Stratford as the Red Devils visit NHS Monday, January 5, at 7 in a clash that counts in the South-West Conference standings. Check out coverage of all of these games in the January 9 edition of The Bee.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.