By Steve Bigham

Too many turnovers against an unforgiving opponent last Saturday night resulted in an early exit from the South-West Conference tournament for the Newtown High boys’ basketball team.

The eighth-seeded ’Hawks, who had to win eight of their last 10 regular season games just to get in, threw the ball away at every turn on their way to a 75-64 loss to top-seeded Notre Dame of Fairfield.

The action-packed game was played before a large crowd at Masuk High in Monroe.

Newtown, behind a huge second-half performance by Courtney Steele (23 points), managed to keep itself in the game up until the final two minutes when the Lancers finally put the locals away. It must now sit back and await the start of next week’s CIAC Class L state tournament.

The SWC semifinals were slated for Tuesday with the championship game to be played Friday night at Bunnell in Stratford.

“We can’t play up and down with a team like Notre Dame. We have to stay within our offense and we didn’t always do that,” said Newtown coach John Quinn, who’s team dropped to 11-10. “They went on a run, we came back, then we fell apart defensively.”

In addition, Newtown’s top scorer, John Fiscella, was plagued with foul trouble all night.

Newtown put itself in the eighth-seed position by dropping its final regular season game February 23 at Foran of Milford. In an emotional battle, the Nighthawks succumbed, 42-41. That loss, coupled with a Pomperaug win the following day, moved Newtown from the sixth to eighth seed.

“We had a lot in front of us a week ago with just one opponent to beat in order to secure the sixth seed. We had a very disappointing loss to Foran,” Quinn said. “Against Notre Dame, we played in spots.”

And that was far from enough against the Lancers. Nevertheless, Newtown kept it interesting for much of the night. Sophomore John Wesley (12 points) scored on a reverse layup at the start of the second quarter to give Newtown a 17-12 lead. However, Notre Dame would then go on a 19-5 run the remainder of the second quarter for a nine-point halftime lead. The final shot of the half came on a three-pointer by junior Len Jefferson just before the buzzer. The shot appeared to knock the wind out of Newtown sails just as Jefferson’s bomb had done during a 79-75 overtime win over Newtown in January.

But just when it looked hopeless for Newtown, trailing 33-22 early in the third quarter, Steele answered with seven straight points to cut the deficit to four.

After a pair of Notre Dame jumpers, Steele and Wesley each converted baskets to keep the locals within two. Then after another Notre Dame bucket, Rich Engel scored off a pass from Bret McEvoy – 37-35 Notre Dame.

A Wesley bucket late in the third period helped keep the Nighthawks’ deficit at two. But things quickly fell apart after that as Jefferson nailed a three-pointer and Fiscella fouled out.

“When your major offensive weapon is sitting on the bench for half the game it’s very difficult to beat a team like Notre Dame,” Quinn said. “We felt we could play with this team, but we didn’t get an opportunity to show it. The kids were very disappointed after the game.”

Thanks to a handful of Newtown turnovers, Notre Dame extended the lead to double digits midway through the final quarter. An 11-2 run by Notre Dame had answered a 13-4 Newtown run. A pair of Jason Godoy three-pointers and some patented hustle plays by Engel, McEvoy and Josh Dittmar would not be enough.

Overshadowed in the loss was the performance by Steele who was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and 3-for-3 from the foul line in the second half. Wesley finished 6-of-7 from the field.

“We must have had close to 25 turnovers. We got caught up in an up and down game with them,” Quinn said. “You work so hard to get to the playoffs, and then it’s just one game. Our goal all along was to get there, and then it’s a 32-minute game. We’ll be back.”

NOTES: At Tuesday’s league meeting, Steele was named to the all-SWC team along with Kevin Jeffreys of Kolbe Cathedral, Jason Amos of Bunnell, Doug Riepe of Immaculate, Ron Christy of Stratford, Andrew Jeffreys of Foran, Mike Evans of Weston, Don Hutchison of Masuk, and Lenny Jefferson and Joe Wilson of Notre Dame.

Fiscella was picked to the all-Colonial squad, while Engel and Godoy both received honorable mention.

Newtown   15    7    17   25  - 64

Notre Dame 12  19    15   29  - 75

 

NEWTOWN (64): Courtney Steele 9 5-5 23, John Fiscella 3 1-1 7, Jason Godoy 2 0-0 5, Rich Engel 5 0-2 10, Bret McEvoy 1 0-0 2, Josh Dittmar 1 0-0 2, John Wesley 6 0-0 12, Andrew Smith 0 1-2 1, Ryan Walker 0 2-2 2, Jeff Wolcott 0 0-0 0. Totals: 27 9-12 64.

NOTRE DAME (75): Len Jefferson 9 3-4 24, Tim Meehan 1 6-6 8, Jared Brown 6 7-7 19, Joe Wilson 5 0-2 11, Jason Sapp 3 1-2 7, Vernard Thompson 1 0-0 2, Lenny Haynes 1 0-0 2, Isiah Jones 0 0-0 0, Will Schimpf 0 0-0 0, Kevin Lorde 0 2-2 2. Totals: 26 19-23 75.

Three-pointers: Godoy (N), Jefferson (ND) 3, Wilson (ND)._Newtown   4           13         13         11         - 41

Foran      11   11    10   10  - 42

 

NEWTOWN (41): Courtney Steele 2 5-7 9, John Fiscella 4 1-4 12, Jason Godoy 2 2-2 8, Rich Engel 2 0-0 5, Bret McEvoy 1 0-0 3, Josh Dittmar 0 0-0 0, John Wesley 2 0-0 4, Andrew Smith 0 0-0 0, Ryan Walker 0 0-0 0. Totals: 27 9-12 64.

FORAN (42): Justin Scaplicki 1 0-0 2, Ryan Holthaus 2 0-0 4, Andrew Jeffreys 9 6-6 24, Sean Hoggatten 2 2-2 7, Ken Steeves 1 0-0 2, Scott Mackenzie 2 0-0 4, Totals: 26 19-23 75.

Three-pointers: Godoy (N) 2, McEvoy (N), Engel (N), Fiscella (N), Hoggatt (F).