Pleasant Valley guard Jarius Hosier made the most of his first three-point field goal of the season. His triple from the top of the key as time expired hit nothing but net, lifting the Bears to a 67-65 Mountain Valley Conference victory over Lehighton.

Hosier drew the game-winning shot attempt assignment as a result of a botched play that was called in a timeout just moment before. However, he rose to the challenge by connecting on the 23rd and final three pointer of the game."We were actually going to try and throw it in to one of the big guys down low from out of bounds, but they were there defensively," Pleasant Valley head coach Ken Piontkowski admitted afterwards. "We got it to (Bryan) Sharpe and their defense moved to him and Jarius (Hosier) was open."On the previous possession, Lehighton's Tyler Crum made a trey from the top of the key, which at the time seemed to be the game-winner. However, Hosier's trey proved to be the final shot made, improving the Bears' record to 5-4 overall, 3-3 in the MVC.The game featured 12 lead changes and four ties and was loaded with heroic efforts on both sides of the ball, as the Tribe's Jordan Knappenberger nailed nine triples on the night, finishing with 32 points. However, Knappenberger couldn't help the Tribe much in the fourth as he fouled out with 6:08 left in the game.The Bears Eric Mikulski (18 points) gave the Tribe fits throughout the night, bailing out PV on three different occassions from the three-point mark when Lehighton took the lead."He had a really nice summer for us this past year," Piontkowski mentioned. "He has been struggling this season so far, so hopefully, this was his coming-out party to start getting his confidence higher."Teammate Bryan Sharpe finished the night with a team-high 19 points on 8-10 shooting from the field, while adding five rebounds and four assists, and Marquis Brown amassed 13 points and 15 rebounds.Early on, it seemed to be a game that the Bears would win, going away, as they moved out to a 11-3 lead.The winners then increased their edge to 17-5 on a Sharpe jumper from the elbow, and at the end of one frame, PV was leading 19-10.In the second, four straight threes by Knappenberger got his squad in contention, and with 2:33 left, his fast break lay-up gave them the lead at 27-26. By the time intermission arrived, he added a three and a trio of free throws, keeping his team alive, as they trailed 38-36.The Bears managed a ten-point lead in the third period, as a Nyiem Nevarez trey and lay-up gave the Bears a 49-39 lead with with five minutes left. The Tribe responded, going on a 10-0 run of their own, as Knappenberger poured in a pair of treys, sandwiched by lay-ups from Crum and Anthony Rossino.A Brown lay-up ensued and Knappenberger connected again, before James Farano followed with another triple, but Mikulski hit one of his own to make it 55-54 with the final quarter remaining.The last session saw six lead changes and two ties. Crum hit two triples from the top of the key, proving to be huge at the time, as both provided Lehighton with the temporary lead. His second came with six ticks left, setting up Hosier's heroics at the buzzer."I think both teams needed this win," Oertner admitted. "We're still on the bubble for districts, but every game is huge at this point.""The win is huge," Piontkowski stated. "It could be a season-saver because you never know how the rest of the season is going to pan out."Other than Knappenberger's game-high 32, Farano finished with 14, and Crum added 12.LEHIGHTONRossino 2-2-5-6, Farano 4-5-6-14, Crum 5-0-3-12, Zwetolitz 0-0-0-0, Williams 0-0-0-0, Chambers 0-0-2-0, Knappenberger 10-3-3-32, Mele 0-1-4-1. TOTALS: 21-11-23-65.PLEASANT VALLEYBrown 6-1-2-13, Mikulski 6-0-0-18, Nevarez 2-0-0-5, Robinson 0-0-0-0, Hosier 2-0-0-5, Deegan 0-3-4-3, Pazienza 1-1-3-3, Sharpe 8-0-1-19, Neubert 0-1-2-1. TOTALS: 25-6-12-67.Lehighton 10 26 19 10 - 65Pleasant Valley 19 19 16 13 - 67Three pointers: L - Knappenberger 9, Crum 2, Farano; PV - Mikulski 6, Sharpe 3, Nevarez 1, Hosier 1.