EAST STROUDSBURG - Strong shooting nights from Logan Santos and Jaen Chatman propelled East Stroudsburg South to a 67-53 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference victory over Pleasant Valley on Friday

Santos scored the first bucket of the game by drilling a three-pointer for ES South and by the end of the night, the senior guard had accumulated 23 points. Chatman also scored 23 points.

“South is a great team. Playing them is always a tough matchup,” Pleasant Valley head coach Bobby Hahn said. “Their coach is a great coach, the kids are tough, and they know how to win games. There’s a reason they only have two losses on the year.

“I thought that our guys competed with them and worked really hard. We shot ourselves in the foot a little bit by turning the ball over as much as we did. But we have to rebound from this because we’re close to a possible district playoff berth.”

South led Pleasant Valley 14-12 after the first quarter and then extended the lead to 34-27 at halftime.

“They force you into bad positions,” Hahn said about South’s defense. “We looked at their film and knew the things we had to do against that defense, but it’s really hard to duplicate what they do in the games during a practice.”

The 14-point victory for the Cavaliers was the largest lead of the game as Pleasant Valley stayed competitive throughout the contest.

The Bears fall to 7-10 with the loss, but still have a chance to earn a district playoff spot. PV needs four more wins to qualify. It closes the season with games against Pocono Mountain East, Stroudsburg and Pocono Mountain West and Moravian Academy.

Hahn believes the Bears still have a chance.

“We are still mathematically in it if we would win the rest of our games,” Hahn said. “We’re looking to add a 22nd game. We still only have 21, that extra game would be nice to give us a little leeway.

“It would have to be a pretty big win streak here at the end, but nothing is impossible.”

TOP BEARS ... Jarod Moore was the leading scorer for Pleasant Valley with 18 points. Joe Greene and Zach Prator added 14 and 12 points, respectively.

ENDING STRONG ... Pleasant Valley has defeated both East and Stroudsburg earlier this season, but lost to West the first time around Moravian Academy has a 7-10 record.

PLEASANT VALLEY

Ja. Moore 7-3-5-18, Greene 4-2-2-14, Williams 1-0-0-2, Hallenbeck 0-0-0-0, JJ Moore 0-0-0-0, P. Moore 1-1-2-3, Power 0-0-0-0, Ratti 0-0-0-0, Prator 4-4-4-12, Pandolfo 2-0-2-4. TOTALS: 19-10-15-53.

ES SOUTH

Patterson 0-5-6-5, DeJesus 1-0-0-2, Santos 8-5-5-23, Levine 0-0-0-0, Chatman 7-7-8-23, Williams 1-0-0-3, Carnegie 1-0-0-2, Green 3-2-3-9, Watts 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-19-22-67.

Pleasant Valley 12 15 15 11 - 53

ES South 14 20 16 17 - 67

Three-pointers: Pleasant Valley - Greene 4, Ja. Moore 1; ES South - Santos 2, Chatman 2, Williams 1, Green 1.