Burrell boys clamp down on Shady Side, win section opener

By: Ted Sarneso
Friday, December 15, 2023 | 10:35 PM

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The beginning of Section 3-3A play was a tough, low-scoring affair between Shady Side Academy and host Burrell.

The Bucs came into the game allowing only 39.7 points a game and were faced with a challenge in shutting down a Bulldogs offense led by Eli Teslovich.

“We preach defense. Our goal is to keep teams under 50 points, and we focus on that in practice. We game plan that way and preach it every day,” said Burrell coach Mike Fantuzzo. “We feel like if we can get after it defensively, because we lack size, it makes up for a lot of mistakes and we can create offense the other way.”

Burrell (5-0, 1-0) stepped up big defensively in front of a packed gym and held onto a 46-41 victory over the Bulldogs (2-4, 0-1).

“Eli’s a fantastic player, and one of our keys was to focus on him,” Fantuzzo said.

“They have other guys that can make plays, but if we could stop him from making plays, both shooting and passing, I thought we had a good chance of winning this game.”

Macky Bennis drew the assignment of following Teslovich when the Bulldogs had the ball. Bennis passed the test as Teslovich finished with just 11 points.

“We felt if Teslovich picked the ball up, it was a win for us,” said Bennis. “I guarded him all game and did a good job, I think of keeping him in front of me.”

Said Shady Side coach David Vadnais: “They did a great job. I thought their help side defense was excellent, they shaded towards him, made sure the help went towards him. We needed to get the ball out of his hands more and allow someone else to have the ball and have him come off screens.”

Offensively, the Bucs got contributions from their key guys, as Bennis and Tucker Bitar were able to fight to get looks and put away shots, leading Burrell to an 18-18 first-half tie.

“We expected a triangle-and-two, for them to take away me and Macky, but with our offense, it’s not just on us two to provide the offense,” said Bitar. “We feel we have guys that can come in to get off good shots and score at high percentages.”

Bitar finished with 18 points, and Bennis contributed 16.

A big contributor for the Bucs was guard Joey Discello, who came up with two huge 3s in the third quarter.

“We were closing out on guys we didn’t want to,” said Vadnais. “We knew Discello was their third shooter and, not to be disrespectful to other kids, but we knew he would hurt us from the outside and we let him get open looks.”

Cam Mallory had nine points for Shady Side.

“As a sophomore, Cam’s had to step in and start, and I think he’s done a good job. It’s a lot right away for him, but he’s done a remarkable job stepping in and playing major minutes and contributing,” said Vandais. “I’m pleased with how he’s playing.”

Also contributing was Seamus Riordan, who had 10 points.

“He played well for us at the end of last year, when our leading scorers went down with injuries, he became our guy,” Vadnais added. “He’s our second leading scorer and we rely on him a lot.”

Shady Side started to go to a press midway through the quarter in hopes of inducing turnovers.

“We knew their press was going to come, and we saw it a lot last year but we’re more experienced when we do have to face it,” said Fantuzzo.

“Once we picked up pressure, it seemed to bother them a little bit and maybe we should have done that sooner,” said Vadnais. “Coming out in the second half, I don’t think our guys did a good job at making adjustments when they started to run screens.”

It just wasn’t enough against a solid Bucs defense that held Shady Side under 15 points in each quarter.

“We try to take away their best player. We play good help defense, we’re always in passing lanes and take charges, we do the little stuff that matters,” said Bitar.

Bitar made it to the line late in the fourth quarter and gave the Bus a cushion by sinking both free throws, making the score 44-39.

Riordan missed a 3 on the ensuing possession for Shady Side but grabbed his own rebound and put back a layup to make it a three-point Burrell advantage.

After a Bulldogs timeout, Bitar was fouled once again on the inbounds and went to the line, making both free throws to seal the victory for Burrell.

The win was big for Burrell, who had tough times in the past against Shady Side.

“It’s hard playing before break and you don’t want to play a good team before break, but it’s the way our schedule is and it provides us with a lot of momentum,” said Bennis. “We’ve never beat Shady Side ever, and tonight is an unexplainable feeling.”

Said Fantuzzo: “It’s a great start, puts us in a good position, but nothing is easy. It’s a good section, and I told them we were going to have a lot of games like this, close against some really good teams.”

Tags: Burrell, Shady Side Academy