Basketball games certainly aren't won the opening quarter, but Newtown High School's boys' cagers seized a 16-7 lead after one stanza then withstood every comeback effort by visiting Torrington, never relinquishing the lead en route to a 65-55 victory in the season-opener, at NHS, on December 13.

Newtown led 26-16 at the half, and 43-31 heading to the fourth.

The Red Raiders were within eight points, 37-29, with three minutes to play in the third before the Nighthawks went on a 6-0 burst sparked by strong defense, for a 14-point advantage late in the third.

Jack Mulligan was set up by Robert DiSibio in close for two points, Tucker Garrity followed with a baseline drive for a reverse layup, and DiSibio's steal and slam dunk with seven seconds to play in the quarter pushed the lead to 43-29.

Torrington made a basket at the buzzer to end the third, then began the fourth-quarter scoring with 3-pointer. After strong Newtown defense, including a Jack Petersen shot block and Riley Ward drawing a charge, DiSibio answered with a 3-pointer from the left elbow for a 46-34 lead with 5:55 to play. Ward drove to the rim for a basket and a 14-point lead again.

The Red Raiders trimmed the lead to single digits at 49-40 midway through the fourth. The Hawks responded with a 6-0 run capped by DiSibio's coast-to-coast effort. It was 55-40 with 3:12 left.

After Torrington got to within ten, Max Bloomquist sank a 3-pointer from the left corner, making it 58-45 with 1:50 remaining.

The Red Raiders made things a bit interesting down the stretch, closing to within eight at 58-50 on a 3-point play the old fashioned way with 1:27 left. DiSibio's back-door pass to Bloomquist for a 3-point play at the other end, just 17 seconds later, helped the Hawks seal the win.

"Torrington is a very, very, very solid (Naugatuck Valley League) team. I knew this was going to be a tough game. We weren't going to run away with it," Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch said.

Ward led the way with 22 points, DiSibio scored 16, Garrity had 12, Bloomquist nine, and Mulligan six to account for all of the Nighthawk scoring.

Garrity had four steals, Ward handed out four assists, Mulligan and Garrity each had six rebounds, and DiSibio pulled down five rebounds and had three assists.

For what it's worth, Torrington won 14 regular season games and reached the Division III state playoff quarterfinals a year ago; graduation has altered both rosters, and Newtown — which advanced to last year's D-II semis — was also without center Todd Petersen due to an injury.

"Games we can win now without Todd are really going to help us down the road," said Tallcouch, optimistic his team's 6-foot-6 presence in the middle will be back in the lineup.

Tallcouch liked the way his players battled.

"Great job by everybody — offense, defense, everybody contributed," the coach said.

Highlights that don't get into the stat books include Shea Talbot hustling to deflect a rebound to a teammate to keep a possession alive, a behind-the-back save along the baseline by Mulligan, and Mulligan's touchdown inbound pass to Bloomquist for two late-game points as the Hawks broke Torrington's full-court press.

"Credit to my kids, they played hard. We executed when it was necessary," said Tallcouch, adding that there is need for improvement as the season unfolds.

"We need to get better and we're going to get better," the coach said.

Newtown's second game is against another nonconference foe, Ledyard in a rematch of last year's D-II first round (NHS went on the road and won 66-61); the teams meet at NHS on Saturday, December 15 beginning at 2 o'clock.

"I like these nonleague games we have this year because each one of them is challenging," Tallcouch said.