The cannons were firing, and the gates were locked at Buccaneer bay as Burrell shut down the Deer Lakes offense to beat their rival 52-42.

The Bucs built a lead in the beginning of the second quarter, hitting six 3s in the first half. Once they were ahead, they never gave it up.

Gavyn Orr led the Bucs with 16 points and six rebounds.

“I’m not going to say this is all on my part; this is about everybody,” Orr said. “This is a great team win. We all an accomplished our goal.”

“Their press is amazing. It’s a great press, but we executed and got it done.”

Burrell’s balanced offensive attack drove the Bucs with Adam Wass tallying 13 points, including three 3s, and Sam Conte delivering 11 points.

The Bucs had 11 assists as Trey Coury led the way with four.

“At the start of the season, Ryan (Wass) and Adam were doing most of scoring, but as the season goes on, we’re working in practice every day,” Coury said. “We know that they’re going to guard them closely, but everybody else can score as well, and I think that showed today.”

The Bucs held the Lancers to two 3s, both from Luca Mangieri.

The Burrell defense shut down high-scoring performers in guard Collin Rodgers (eight points, five assists) and forward Evan Moore (12 points , six rebounds).

The Bucs game-planned for Moore’s play in the paint, denying him the ball.

“Our assignment was to get him out and make sure he doesn’t score underneath the basket,” Orr said. “We executed our game plan perfectly.”

Burrell made layups hard for Rodgers on every drive.

“We knew we had to be physical, and as you could tell, we all ended with a decent amount of fouls, but physical is the way we play,” Coury said. “We knew we were going to be physical with him, and we had to limit him as much as we could. I think it was a a good game plan and a well executed plan.”

Burrell led at halftime 29-25. The Bucs piled on in the third, ambushing the Lancers with a 14-5 run to start, going up 43-30 and eventually putting their rival away.

“We always say the first three minutes are the most important,” Orr said. “We came out in the second half ready to play.”

The Bucs controlled the clock and didn’t turn over the ball.

Burrell went into the fourth quarter up 43-33, and with an Evan Moore and-1, the Lancers cut it to 43-36 to cap off a 6-0 run.

The Lancers, behind Rodgers, trimmed the lead to 45-40. Nevertheless, the Bucs kept them without a field goal for the last four minutes.

The Bucs build some momentum as they travel to Tampa Bay tomorrow morning for a tournament.

“That’s great coaching,” Coury said. “That’s good, hard defense, and that’s just a great team defensive game.”