The 8-10 Trojans hosted the 18-2 Treynor Cardinals on Friday night. The Trojan boys hoped to extend their winning streak to four games–after they topped Red Oak, Creston, and Clarinda in the past week. The opposition had only lost two games before arriving in Atlantic, one to Gretna and another to Grand View Christian.

On the home court, Atlantic started sophomore Skyler Handlos, junior Tyler Moen, and seniors Nate Behrends, Chase Mullenix, and Logan Reilly. Atlantic held Treynor to single-digit scoring in both quarters of the first half. Going into the locker room, the Trojans sat comfortably in the lead 29-14. Fourteen points is the lowest amount Treynor had scored through one half all season. This is credited to tough Trojan defense.

The Cardinals mounted a comeback in the second half, outscoring the hometown team in both quarters. With one minute left in the contest, Atlantic was in front by ten points. Fouls would come into play in the final minute, with Treynor fouling with the hopes to get a rebound and snatch a basket on a fast-break play.

Treynor was able to creep closer as the clock ticked down. With 2.7 seconds left, the Cardinals had pulled within one point, the score 61-60. Mullenix was fouled with 1.5 seconds left, and netted one of his two chances, putting the Trojans up by two. After Reilly snagged a baseball-pass on the sidelines, the referees ran over to investigate the call. The Treynor coaching staff, quickly trying to come up with a plan to rip the win away from the Trojans, ordered all of their players over for an unofficial timeout. Moen walked over to the Treynor bench, only to be pushed out of the area by Cardinal coaches and players. Almost immediately, the Atlantic crowd was in an uproar, and the officials issued the Treynor camp a technical foul.

The Trojans sent Mullenix to the line for the extra-point opportunity, and he made one of the two free throws, edging Atlantic’s lead to three points. On the inbound, the Trojans held onto the ball to run out the clock, and secure the win 63-60.

Moen finished the night with 16 points, and Mullenix scored 15. Off the bench, junior Nile Petersen chipped in ten for the Trojans. On the defensive side, Atlantic stole the ball a total 13 times.

With a record just below .500, the Atlantic boys will host Denison-Schleswig on Thursday, before turning around and playing the Monarchs again on Monday as part of the first round of postseason play.