The Atlantic boys basketball team dropped their season opener at home on Tuesday night 59-46 to the Winterset Huskies. Atlantic found themselves down at the end of the 1st and 2nd quarter on late baskets. The Huskies got a steal and layup from Casey Kleemeier at the end of the first quarter to lead 16-14. Easton Darling then splashed in a near half-court three at the buzzer to give the Huskies a 32-29 halftime edge.

The beginning of the second half was very stale for Atlantic. The Huskies outscored the Trojans 17-7 in the third quarter and lead by as many as 16. Easton Darling hit two threes in that impactful third quarter and finished with 20 points on the night to lead Winterset and all scorers. Nicholas Baur had 10 points and Casey Kleemeier finished with 9 for the Huskies. Kleemeier was very good as a distributor as well with a number of great passes that put his teammates in great shape to get easy buckets.

Chase Mullenix didn’t start the game after missing some time to recover from an injury after football season but was the leader for the Trojans with 18 points and made some great hustle plays for Atlantic. Austin Alexander finished with 10 points on the night.  The Trojans struggled with ball handling out front and were ice cold from the field for most of the night. Defensive breakdowns also led to a number of easy looks for Winterset. Head Coach Alan Jenkins said “We just got whipped in every facet of the game. Give credit to Winterset because they executed. We just weren’t good anywhere on the floor tonight.”

Atlantic has a few days to prepare for a road test at St. Albert on Friday night.