By Dennis Bowling
Peotone senior Miles Heflin’s, who is one of the top players in this area, late in the game “Hail Mary” shot just missed the basket by a matter of inches. The Blue Devils just fell short of beating St. Anne on December 29.
Heflin, a 6-foot-4 power forward, scored a team-high 29 points, had 12 rebounds and two assists. The Cardinals edged the Blue Devils 46-44 to win the very exciting title game of the Kankakee Holiday tournament before a full house gathering in Kankakee.
Heflin, who is a golf and basketball standout, was named to the prestigious KHT all-tournament team.
“We just came out tentative,” he said. “We could not find our offense. Our defense was pretty good. We need more fast break baskets.”
“We need to keep improving,” he said. “We played well. We can compete but we do have to execute.”
The Blue Devils coach Ron Oloffson, who had just won his 600th career game, was quite pleased with the play of Heflin.
“Miles had a great game,” he said. “We were really leaning on him. We do need more players to step up and score.”
With 2:21 to go in the game, a Heflin reverse layup gave Peotone a 41-39 lead. A Cardinal basket and a free throw gave them a 42-41 advantage.
The St. Anne basket made it 44-41. Peotone Brandon Weiss’ shot missed the basket. The Blue Devils Lucas Gesswein (5 points, 2 assists, 11 rebounds) was fouled. His missed free throw was grabbed by Heflin. His rebound basket cut the Cardinal margin to 44-43, with many seconds to go in the contest.
Heflin’s last second shot just missed the basket. The Blue Devils Oloffson commented on the hard-fought loss to the Cardinals.
“We have to rebound the ball,” he said. “We gave up too many transition baskets. We did not attack their trapping zone defense.”
The Blue Devils sophomore Brandon Weiss, a 5-foot-10 guard, who was named to the prestigious KHT all-tournament team, finished with eight points, three steals, three rebounds.
“We just could not get our offense going,” he said. “We did not play that well.”
“Miles is just amazing,” he said. “He can do it all for us.”
At the close of the first quarter, Peotone Hunter Becker’s basket gave them an 11-4 lead. At half time, the Blue Devils held a 15-13 lead, thanks to a picturesque Heflin three-point play.
Manteno will play host to ICE rival Peotone on January 6 at 7 p.m.
In the semifinal contest, the Blue Devils beat Herscher 41-25. Heflin led with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Gesswein had nine points and seven rebounds. Weiss finished with eight points and two steals. Becker had four points and four rebounds.
