The new year is officially upon us, along with the start of the second half of basketball season. We have a good sample size of every team, and all six public schools in the Poconos can be divided into three categories on the boys’ side.
At the top is Pocono Mountain East and West High School, who sit near the top of Class 6A. The Panthers ended 2024 with two quality wins over Liberty and Parkland while surviving a slugfest with Scranton Prep. The Cardinals bounced back from their close loss to William Allen and finished 3-0 to become District 11 and the EPC’s first 10-win team. You could argue that East’s schedule isn’t the toughest, but they open 2025 with four potential district playoff teams, including West. If Mark Dudley’s squad is legitimate, we’ll know at the end of next week.
West also added two more members to its 1,000-point class as Adrian Brito and KJ Coles both reached the mark over Christmas break. Brito enters 2025 as the favorite to win EPC Player of the Year, and Coles could be in contention for an All-State selection.
At the bottom of the EPC Monroe Division are Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg South, two programs that are clearly in a rebuild, but may have found some pieces for the future. Jaiden Martinez-Tovar has proven he can score at a varsity level for the Cavaliers, but the team overall still has growing to do when it comes to winning basketball.
For the Mounties, freshman guard Tae El-Bassiouni has played his way into the starting lineup as the team’s leading scorer. The son of head coach Tarik El-Bassiouni is one of several young players with high ceilings, including Jarel Jackson and Josh Ivers-Green. This season will serve as a good experience for those players.
Then you have two teams in the middle – East Stroudsburg North and Pleasant Valley. Both teams have had disappointing starts to the season, but have the pieces and play style to be better in 2025. The Bears are three spots out of eighth place in District 11 6A, but they’ve gotten what they expected from center Zach Prator, who’s hovering around 20 points per game. The test will be if the guards can slow the game down and be the perimeter support Prator and Sebastian Sacci need.
For the Timberwolves, a veteran rotation with athleticism shouldn’t be 2-8, but that where Denzal McKenzie and North finds themselves entering 2025. Fortunately, Class 5A is uncommonly weak this season, so their current record still has them in the playoff picture. Time is running out for them to figure it out, though. Hopefully they can rattle off some wins to get the momentum going.
On the girls’ side, Stroudsburg is by far the team to beat on the mountain. Matt Field’s squad is the only one that’s .500 or better, but the test is when the team plays Pocono Mountain West, who swept the season series last year. Senior McKayla Strunk is also close to being the third Pocono player to reach 1,000-career points this season.
Stroudsburg will also be testes when it leaves the mountain for competition, seeing as that’s what it will take to achieve postseason success.