The Atlantic Trojans boys basketball team is headed to the state tournament for the first time since 2002 after a substate final win on Monday night over Glenwood 69-68.  The Trojans and Rams put on quite a nail-biting show for the capacity crowd at Harlan Community High School.

The Trojans built a two possession lead multiple times down the stretch only to have Glenwood claw back to within 1 as time wound down.  After Austin Alexander hit a free throw to push the lead to 4 for Atlantic with 12 seconds left, Nate Mohr hit a three with about 4 seconds left on the clock to get the Rams within one.  Time should of been allowed to run out but an inadvertent whistle and clock stoppage ended up forcing Atlantic to throw the ball in with 1 second left to seal the win.

Atlantic Head Coach Alan Jenkins thought it would be a close game and it turned out to be just that.

Coach Jenkins was elated for his players after the win.

Sophomore Chase Mullenix had a monster night for the Trojans with 19 points and played excellent defense with the assignment on Nate Mohr.  Chase thought his team executed the game plan well.

Senior Garrett Franken finished with 19 points as well for the Trojans and said it felt great to knock off the Rams and get over the hump to get to the state tournament.

Scott Leonard worked hard on the block for 15 points in the win and he said his teammates really stepped up when it was tough for him to get touches early in the game.

Glenwood was led by Nate Mohr with 26 points, 24 of those in the second half. Andrew Blum had 17 before fouling out late and Christian Stanislav had 15 for the Rams. Glenwood ends their season at 18-6.

Atlantic improved to 19-5 on the season and will head to the state tournament for the 11th time in school history.  The Trojans will play in the 3A quarterfinals next Tuesday, March 7th.  Opponent and time won’t be known until Wednesday.