Burrell uses 3-point barrage to beat Valley, clinch playoff spot

By: Josh Rizzo
Tuesday, February 3, 2026 | 11:55 PM

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Ryan Wass made the math easy for the Burrell boys basketball team to figure out how to seal a WPIAL Class 4A playoff berth.

Take a three and multiply it by nine.

Wass canned a career-high nine treys and finished with 27 points to help the Bucs hold off Valley, 55-41, during a Section 1-4A contest Tuesday night at home.

With a playoff spot secured, Burrell (10-12, 6-6) has the luxury of seeing how things will shake out in the last few days of the regular season.

“We’re going to get back to work,” Wass said. “We’re going to watch games and stuff to go on. We’re hoping to get help for a higher seeding.”

Burrell coach Mike Fantuzzo was happy to take the tiebreakers out of the equation. The Buccaneers were waiting for help that never came last year.

“It’s nice to know we took care of ourselves,” Fantuzzo said. “Last year, we were waiting for someone to help us out. It’s definitely a good feeling to not worry about relying on someone else.”

Valley (2-16, 0-10) didn’t make things easy on Burrell. The Buccaneers saw their 23-19 halftime lead get cut to two points in the first three minutes after halftime.

Dawson Wall, who finished with 10 points, kicked off a 5-0 spurt for Valley. He hit a 3-pointer then made a steal on the defensive end and converted it into a layup, cutting the lead to 26-24.

Burrell committed a turnover on the ensuing inbounds play. The Vikings couldn’t tie the game, as their ensuing possession ended with a missed 3-pointer.

“It was a game-changing sequence,” Valley coach Eric Kostick said. “Next thing you do, they do the same thing on the other end. When we get in that situation, we have to learn how to keep our foot on the pedal.”

Wass connected on 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to kick off a 9-0 stretch. The Vikings never got that close again.

Fantuzzo said Burrell wanted to try to get Wass good looks at the basket.

“We talked about how he was consistently hitting for us in the first half,” Fantuzzo said. “We were taking advantage of something they were doing defensively to confuse them. We set a couple stagger screens and elevator screens.”

Valley had its only lead, 2-0, when Jaden Wall scored on the game’s first possession. The Vikings struggled with turnovers as Burrell stretched the lead to eight points by the end of the opening quarter.

Kostick said that it being Groundhog Day this week felt appropriate as turnovers have hurt Valley throughout the year. The Vikings were behind Deer Lakes by four points Monday night but saw things slip away when they couldn’t take care of the ball.

Julian Danko led the Vikings with 12 points.

“The difference tonight was when we got punched in the mouth in the second half and we punched back,” Kostick said. “We cut the deficit back down to four. My kids kept battling. I saw a giant step out of them tonight.”

Adam Wass also finished with 13 points for Burrell. The Buccaneers had long stretches where they didn’t score, which allowed Valley to cut the deficit. Burrell was scoreless for the first three-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter before Ryan Wass made a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 40-33.

But the Buccaneers settled in and are moving on.

“We wanted to relax,” Wass said. “We started to push the tempo too much and got out of our control. We started playing our game and finding the open man.”

Tags: Burrell, Valley