The Atlantic Boys Basketball team showed improvement but couldn’t get the win on Monday night at Kuemper Catholic. The Knights broke a 57-all tie with a three from Nate Mertz and held on for a 62-60 victory over the Trojans.  It was a back and forth game with 8 lead changes in the second half. After the Mertz make Atlantic turned the ball over on a traveling violation. The Trojans would then put Kuemper at the line 21 seconds left for a 1-1 but the Knights would lose the chance to shoot after a player tried to leave his rebounding spot to fall back as the shooter was receiving the ball. The lane violation gave Atlantic the ball back down three. Jaxson Eden would get to the line and make 1 of 2 free throws with nine seconds left. Parker Badding would then knock down two free throws to push the lead to 4 points. Logan Reilly got a tip in at the buzzer to provide the final 2 point margin.

The game was tied at 14 at the end of the first quarter, Kuemper gained a 6 point halftime lead 32-26, and it was 48-all at the end of the third.

The Trojans’ strong free throw shooting in the first half was a factor that turned sour in the second half. They were 10-12 before the break, but just 4-11 after half to finish just 61% for the game at the charity stripe.  The Knights also outscored the Trojans from long range with a 30-12 advantage from three.

Kuemper was led by 25 points from Parker Badding who led all scorers in the game and had 17 in the first half. Sam Auen added 12 points for the Knights with 4 threes in the second half. Kuemper improves to 5-1 with the win and will next host Newell-Fonda on Friday night.

Atlantic was led by Scott Leonard’s 21 points, while Austin Alexander added 12 and Jaxson Eden had 11. The Trojans fall to 3-4 with the loss and will host St. Albert on Thursday night for their second meeting of the young season with the Falcons.