Bobby Hahn knows moral victories don’t count for much in the standings.

But Hahn’s Pleasant Valley boys basketball team came out of Tuesday night’s 57-49 loss to Emmaus feeling triumphant.

The Bears answered the bell against the Hornets - unbeaten in Eastern Pennsylvania Conference play and atop the District 11 Class 6A standings.

It was a response that Hahn’s squad is eager to learn from and build on during the second half of the season.

“Our guys worked hard,” Hahn said. “We played really well on defense. Shots weren’t falling a little bit for us. A team as good as Emmaus, we were really happy that we competed the way we did. We kept it close, and credit our guys for working hard through it.”

Pleasant Valley (5-7, 3-5 EPC) took the lead with a 9-0 run to close out the first quarter, its only advantage of the contest.

The Bears cut the Hornets (10-2, 7-0) lead to four with five minutes left in the game. A Zach Pandolfo steal led to a three-pointer by Pleasant Valley junior Sean Hallenback to make it 42-38, but the Bears weren’t able to get any closer.

“They threw zone at us, and then I think when we started feeling like we adapted to it a little bit,” Hahn said. “We started playing and got into our groove. We played hard defensively through the whole game. We really do a good job. We saw them play a lot this year, watched a lot of film and saw how good they can be. The fact that our guys held them down to the points they had and made them work for everything ... I was really proud of our guys to keep it that way.”

Patrick Moore was the leading scorer for the Bears with 16 points. Moore was able to get by the tough Emmaus defense at times and get to the basket. Jarod Moore added 13 points for Pleasant Valley.

“All credit goes to our players. They’ve been working really hard at practice. We’ve been having great practices. They’re tough, and don’t accept losing anymore,” Hahn said. “They want to win the game when they go out there and play it. You can see it in their efforts that they’ve had in every game.

“They never go into a game thinking that we might lose, they go into every game thinking that we should win. That confidence is what’s really been carrying us through this year. Going into a game thinking we should win this one, whether we should or shouldn’t keeps them positive and confident. They’ve worked really hard this year. We’re very happy with what we have. We have a couple of close ones we’d like to have back, but we’re going to continue to work.”

Jametric Harris led a balanced attack for Emmaus with 16 points. Jackson Lake added 13, while William Barber finished with 10.

Emmaus got into some early foul trouble after trailing in the first quarter, where the Hornets led 7-0 before the Bears rallied.

“I tell them, unfortunately, if you can have a moral victory this was one, but moral victories doesn’t get you into districts or leagues,” Hahn said. “As happy as we are with keeping it close, we want to make sure we take the momentum from being close with a great team like Emmaus and carrying that through for the rest of the season.”

EARLY LEAD

... Zach Prator’s layup was the first bucket of the game for Pleasant Valley, with Prator then adding another point on a free throw. Austin Ratti then drilled a three-pointer to make it 7-6, and Jarod Moore’s free throw, to go along with his bucket, made it 9-7 after the first quarter.

UP NEXT

... Pleasant Valley has EPC North foes Stroudsburg at home on Thursday, and then an away game at Pocono Mountain West on Monday.

CLOSE CALLS

... Emmaus’ two losses this season have come by a combined five points. The Hornets fell to Methacton (District 1) 61-59 in the season opener, and suffered a 58-55 setback to Abington Heights (District 2) on Dec. 29.

EMMAUS

Fotta 2-2-2-7, McCourt 1-0-0-2, P. Santos 1-0-0-3, Harris 5-5-5-16, Lake 6-1-2-13, Darville 0-6-6-6, Nunez 0-0-0-0, Curley-Katrishen 0-0-0-0, A. Santos 0-0-0-0, Barber 5-0-0-10. TOTALS: 20-14-15-57.

PLEASANT VALLEY

J. Moore 6-1-2-13, Greene 1-0-0-2, Hallenbeck 1-0-0-3, Lucas 1-0-0-3, P. Moore 7-2-2-16, Ratti 1-0-0-3, Prator 3-1-2-7, Pandolfo 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 21-4-6-49.

Emmaus 7 14 17 19 - 57

Pleasant Valley 9 8 14 18 - 49

Three-pointers: Emmaus - Fotta 1, P. Santos 1, Harris 1; PV - Hallenbeck 1, Lucas 1, Ratti 1.