The Atlantic Trojans boys basketball team had a tough 49-28 loss Tuesday night to the Clarinda Cardinals due to a large amount of turnovers and cold shooting. The first quarter got off to a slow start for both sides as the first basket wasn’t scored til around three minutes into the matchup. Atlantic was first to get on the board leading 2-0. Each team would then trade baskets for the remainder of the quarter with Clarinda leading 7-4 by the end of the first.

The second quarter saw a stronger push by Clarinda as they pushed themselves down the court with Kyle Wagoner and Cooper Phillips hitting layups and mid range shots. Atlantic tried to fight their way back in, but continued to turn the ball over which would lead to them only scoring five points in the second, and being down 21-12 at the half.

At the start of the third quarter Clarinda picked up right where they left off going on a 7-0 run which pushed their lead to 28-12 and committed to a man defense which seemed to stagger the Trojans and limit their ability to score inside the paint. By the time the third quarter ended, Atlantic saw themselves down 15 points with a score of 32-17.

The fourth quarter saw Atlantic’s best offensive performance with bench players like Conner Johnson and Gage Gross both making a splash. Johnson had five points in the fourth and hit the Trojans only three pointer in the game. Gross was the teams leading scorer at nine. Still, the efforts of Gross and Johnsen would not be enough to stop Clarinda from scoring 15 points ion the fourth and taking the win.

The Cardinals leading scorer from Tuesday was Sam Kline who had a 15 point night.

When discussing the loss, Atlantic head coach Dalton Franken was impressed with the way his bench attacked their minutes out on the court Tuesday night.

Coach Franken noted that one of the reasons for Atlantic’s loss to the Cardinals was the cold shooting and missed easy shots.

The Trojans will have time to plan and improve as their next matchup is on Friday against the Creston Panthers. In order for Atlantic to get the victory on Friday, coach Franken hopes to see improved defense and rebounding.

Atlantic’s loss puts them at 0-3 on the year.