Pleasant Valley withstood a second-half surge to turn back Eastern Pennsylvania Conference rival Pocono Mountain East Friday night, 54-50.

The Bears led the entire game and held off a late charge from the Cardinals to secure their first win of the season.

The closest Pocono Mountain East came to leading was when Sebastian Fermin hit a three-pointer to dwindle the PV lead to one in the fourth quarter.

Donald Francois came up clutch for the Bears, sinking a shot to give PV a slim three-point lead. His three-pointer, combined with a Ryan Blass layup, iced the game for Pleasant Valley. Francois scored five straight points to extend the PV lead to 48-43.

“He came through,” Pleasant Valley head coach Bobby Hahn said about Francois. “He wasn’t happy with his performance in the first half, but I told him you’ve got to keep playing.

“You’re going to have many opportunities in the game, and you could see that there’s a point where it kind of just clicked and he thought my team needs me and stepped up and did a great job at the end ... They didn’t hang their heads and they did everything we could ask of them.”

Pleasant Valley (1-1) began the season with a loss at East Stroudsburg South, but a return home helped the Bears secure the win.

“Pocono Mountain East is a very tough team,” Hahn said. “They really brought all the energy. They were tough and played to the end. It shows they are a well-coached and tough team. Our hats go off to them and compliment them on how hard they played.

“I was happy with the way our guys fought through that late run early in the season. You’re not really used to these close games and all these situations. That’s something as the year goes on, you get a little bit better at and we were faced with it in Game 2 already. Our guys held them off enough to come through, despite a great effort by East.”

Pleasant Valley junior Jarod Moore put up 26 points for the Bears and his nine field goals on the night led both teams.

Fermin tried to go shot-for-shot with Moore, and scored 24 points for the Cardinals (0-2). The matchup of the night came between Moore and Tamir Thompson, as the two guarded each other throughout the contest.

“Jarod, he’s a great player and guy,” Hahn said. “He’s really taken on a leadership role with the team, making sure at practices they’re staying focused. Running his own meetings, he’s showing them plays on the whiteboard, making sure they know what they’re doing, so that way we get out there and do our best.

“You can tell tonight that he just had that ‘we-can’t-lose’ attitude and made sure that he willed his team to come through.”

Blass made his return to the court in his senior year and recorded 15 points in the victory. Blass finished out the football season for Pleasant Valley in the fall and all attention now turns to basketball.

“Blass hasn’t played basketball for three years and he took that winning mentality we had at football,” Hahn said. “The toughness he had ... he came through and played tough tonight.”

KEY MOMENT

... PV held a two-point lead with 5:11 left in the game. Senior Sam Knudsen stole the ball from the PM East defense, and it set up five straight points for Francois. Blass also had some big blocks on the night for the Bears.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

... The Bears return home on Thursday against Williams Allen. In the meantime, PV faces Freedom Tuesday before the Allen game, which is the final contest of 2021.

POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST

Fermin 8-7-8-24, Sanchez 3-2-2-8, Thompson 2-2-3-7, Jones 2-0-3-5, Davalos 2-0-1-4, Campbell 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 18-11-17-50.

PLEASANT VALLEY

J. Moore 9-6-7-26, Blass 6-2-5-15, Francois 4-0-1-10, Hollenbeck 0-2-2-2, Knudsen 0-1-1-1. TOTALS: 19-11-16-54.

PM East 8 12 16 14 - 50

Pleasant Vy. 11 19 10 14 - 54

Three-pointers: PM East - Fermin 1, Thompson 1, Jones 1; PV - Francois 2, J. Moore 2, Blass 1.