The Atlantic Boys Basketball team is entering the 2016-17 with a lot of excitement. The Trojans are coming off an 18-5 season and return a number of key players on the roster. The Trojans ended last season with a disappointing loss in the District Final to Glenwood and this year’s team is using that disappointment as motivation. Atlantic hopes they can build off the momentum of last season and achieve even more.
That’s Senior Garrett Franken who was second on the team with 16 points per game last year and was also the Trojans second leading rebounder. Franken recently signed to play Division 1 basketball at the University of North Dakota and will be counted on as the main leader this year with the graduation of leading scorer Ryan Hawkins.
The 6’7″ Franken will slide back to a more natural position as the stretch 4 after playing some point guard last year. Austin Alexander will be one of a number of players enjoying an increased role as he takes on the point guard role. Chase Mullenix became an impact player toward the end of last season as a Freshman and will have a much larger role to start this season. Jake Olsen, Grant Podhajsky, and Scott Leonard will also be counted on for large roles for the Trojans. Leonard is the Trojans inside presence but said he has worked hard to improve is shooting through the off-season.
Podhajsky played important minutes for the Trojans last year and will be counted on to have a larger scoring role this season.
The Trojans open up the season on Tuesday, November 29th at Winterset with a 7:30pm tip time.