By Dennis Bowling
Herscher’s Tigers had their heart set on beating their former now current Peotone Coach Ron Oloffson, but Blue Devil seniors Miles Heflin and Wil Graffeo each put their best foot forward, in the final home game of their careers, and that made Oloffson very happy on February 18.
Heflin, a 6-foot-4 forward, was everywhere around the basket, collecting rebounds and driving to the goal, finishing with 25 points. Graffeo, a 5-foot-10 point guard, also was able to break the Tigers pressure defense and finished with 12 points, as Peotone eliminated Herscher, 57-45, in the opening round of the Class 2A Momence Regional at Peotone High School.
With the win, the Blue Devils (16-14) were to play highly touted No. 4 seeded Beecher on Wednesday, February 22, at 7:30 p.m., in the semifinal round of the Momence Regional.
“It is always fun to beat my old team,” said Oloffson. “I coached a few of those players, and they wanted to beat me. We were able to stay the course and played better defense in the second half of the game.”
“Miles was able to get some huge aggressive rebounds against their zone pressure defense,” he continued. “Wil was just playing gritty and tough, making our defense tough. They helped us win the game.”
At the half, Herscher (6-24) had a 22-20 lead. In the third quarter, with the score tied at 28-all, Peotone outscored the Tigers by a 9-0 count, for a 37-30 lead at the close of the stanza.
The Blue Devils rally started with Heflin making back-to-back baskets for a 32-28 lead. Graffeo drove past a pair of Tiger defenders, was fouled, and made a pair of free throws to make it 34-28. A Heflin trey pushed the score to 37-28.
Heflin was pleased with the play of teammate Graffeo, “Wil was able to get to the free throw line a bunch of times. He’s very strong and was able to deliver some great passes.”
“We had some good chemistry,” he continued. “We had some good rebounding, too. I didn’t want to go home with a loss.”
Grafffeo, a boys’ soccer and basketball standout, described his overall play against the Tigers this way, “I was just aggressive on defense. We had to be strong minded and tough at all times. We wanted to win, so we didn’t give up.”
“Miles is a great player and does everything for us,” he noted, “but we have to be more prepared for our games.”
At the midway mark of the fourth quarter, Peotone had a 46-36 lead. Graffeo drove to the basket and was fouled. He made one free throw for a 47-36 advantage. Once again, Graffeo drove to the bucket, was fouled, this time making a pair of free throws for a 49-36 lead, which led to the win.
On the night, Peotone sophomore Brandon Weiss finished with eight points, while junior Hunter Becker had seven points.