Steady progress has been a staple of the Pleasant Valley boys’ basketball team during Bobby Hahn’s first two years at the helm.

After posting just two wins in 2018-19, Hahn led the program to eight victories last season, including a 6-12 mark in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

The Bears were on the doorstep of a postseason berth down the stretch, playing meaningful games late in the year.

It was an invaluable experience Hahn hopes this season’s squad can continue to build on.

“I really would like to get to that point,” Hahn said of reaching the playoffs. “I think for the kids, and how hard they’ve worked, they would really deserve to get there.”

As the only area school to compete in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, Pleasant Valley recently had the start of its winter sports seasons delayed until Jan. 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Senior Joel Contreras returns after averaging a team-leading 12.57 points per game last season. Contreras played in just seven contests.

“He can do a little bit of everything,” Hahn said of Contreras. “He’s a great ballhandler, runs the team well and is a great kid on and off the court.”

Another senior, Leland Hargrow, is also back after averaging 2.17 points per game.

Gone are the team’s next nine leading scorers, Noah Mitchell (11.73), Shelby Joyner (10.14), Marcus Arce (9.15), Nick Waltermyer (8.50), Isaiah Spruill (7.57), Sebastian Piszczatowski (6.43), Kory Kearns (5.40), Mychal Kearns (2.76), James Stewart (2.71), along with Nick Rommel (1.90), who played 20 games, from a squad that went 8-14 a season ago.

Despite the losses, Hahn will adapt his style to suit his team’s strengths.

“Each year, I try to adjust what I do based upon the talent that we have,” said Hahn. “I know a lot of coaches have systems, and they want to make sure they run that system, and a lot of coaches are very successful doing that.

“We don’t have a lot of height overall, and I always like, being a guard myself, having a more guard-driven offense and playing an up-tempo game; pressing; trapping; and getting into that stuff. But for us, it really is going to vary game-to-game depending on the matchups that we have. These guys enjoy playing more up-tempo, four out, one in and playing off what the defense gives you and seeing what’s there. But I really think you’re going to see a different look each game. You’re never going to see the same thing twice because we have smart players who are going to be able to adjust and play to what they need to do to give themselves the best chance to win games.”

In addition to Contreras and Hargrow, the Bears will also be counting on a number of other players to step up and contribute this year in helping the program take that next step forward.

“We’re going to have to see with the youth that we have, how they handle themselves when they get in,” said Hahn. “It’s tough to say what expectations are, and what our predictions are. But I always try to set the expectation of we want to try and get in the playoffs. Even the year we had two wins; I was telling the guys that’s what we were working toward.

“And that’s what we’re going for. I start each practice off telling them to look at the banner, see the last championship (1998 District 11 title), and make sure that we look at it a little to make sure we know what we’re aiming toward. Our goal is to keep improving from two wins to eight wins, and now we want to keep the number going up each year. This year could be different depending on the amount of games we play with a (Monroe) County-only schedule. So it’s tough to really shoot for a number this year. But we want to make sure that with games remaining, that we either clinched or that we’re right in that range to do so.”