Burrell finds shooting touch, beats rival Valley at WCCA showcase
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Saturday, December 18, 2021 | 6:18 PM
Burrell’s Brandon Coury scores against Valley’s Ben Aftanas during their game on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, at Jeannette High School.
Burrell’s Macky Bennis shoots a three-pointer against Valley on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, at Jeannette High School.
Valley’s Will Mott pressures Burrell’s Tucker Bitar during their game on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, at Jeannette High School.
Burrell’s Donovan Callahan scores past Valley’s B.J. Harvey during their game on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, at Jeannette High School.
After enduring two double-digit losses earlier in the week, Burrell used some hot early shooting to roll past Valley, 62-37, on Saturday afternoon.
The nonsection game was played at Jeannette High School as part of the Westmoreland County Coaches Association quadruple-header.
The Bucs made their first three 3-point attempts to take a 9-2 lead less than two minutes into the game and never looked back.
Brandon Coury and Macky Bennis had 16 points each to lead Burrell (2-3), and Coury collected nine rebounds.
“This game went a lot better than what we’d been doing, especially defensively, that’s what we’ve been focusing on,” Bucs coach Mike Fantuzzo said. “We lost to three good teams, none of whom have lost yet. We’ve been through a lot. I thought they’d come out tired and we had to get into them a little bit, but we got after it.”
The teams Burrell lost to — Kiski Area, Shady Side Academy and North Catholic — had a combined 11-0 mark heading into Saturday.
A pair of free throws by Coury with 1 minute, 35 seconds left in the first quarter gave the Bucs a 17-7 lead.
Meanwhile, Valley (0-5) continued to struggle under new head coach John Stone. The Vikings looked to register their first win of the season Friday, but Apollo-Ridge rallied in the fourth quarter to pull out a 38-36 victory.
“(Today) was just a hangover from last night’s game,” Stone said. “We played well for three quarters, and the fourth quarter we kind of fell apart. Warm-ups I felt that we just weren’t ready to go back-to-back again. It was partially my fault, I’ve just got to get them ready for a game.”
Valley cut its deficit to 21-14 on a basket by Ben Aftanas with 4 minutes, 43 seconds to go in the half, but that’s as close as the Vikings would get as Burrell continued its hot shooting.
“We were due for a game where we shot well,” Fantuzzo said. “We have so many shooters out there, it was only a matter of time before something clicked.”
Valley didn’t attempt a free throw Saturday.
Said Fantuzzo: “We’ve been talking about being a little more physical, how to make some contact and get off so we don’t get that foul and still play the way we want to play.”
The Vikings committed five turnovers in the first four minutes, and Stone wants to preach patience.
“They’re starting to understand what’s wanted,” he said. “It’s hard for them to get past the barrier of ‘I’m used to playing this way.’ It’s going to come. It’s going to click. It’s just taking time. We haven’t been together long enough, but we’ll get there.”
Aftanas had 12 to lead the Vikings, and B.J. Harvey gathered six rebounds.
Saturday’s game was the only scheduled meeting between the two teams this season.
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