CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – It was a tale of two halves for the Champaign Swarm Sunday afternoon at Parkland College.

The first was one where they shot 32 percent and fell behind by 18 points to the Gateway Steam. The second was one where they overcame a 12-point halftime deficit and used a bevy of blocks and steals to create points off turnovers and earn a 104-90 victory.

See box score here.

“I don’t know what it is, but we come out so flat,” said Swarm forward Mark St. Fort, who notched his fourth double-double with 18 points and a team-high 14 rebounds. “But time the second half comes, we pick it up, we get stops, turnovers and run transition -- exactly what we want to do.”

The Swarm (7-2) have fallen behind by 16 points or more in each of their last three games and won two. They pulled to within two points in the final minute of the loss.

Champaign’s defense blocked 13 shots and had 17 steals. Aaron Weaver’s bucket broke an 81-81 tie with 8:04 left in the fourth quarter to give the Swarm the lead for good, and his block with 1:32 left in the game of Terrell Williams’ shot helped stymy a final comeback attempt for Gateway (1-8).

With the victory, the Swarm are one-half game out of first place in the league. The Gateway Steam’s losing streak slid to seven games despite double-digit scoring efforts from five different players. Terrell Williams had a team-high 18 points coming off the bench, while Will Kirksey contributed 17 points.

“My team played with toughness today,” Steam head coach Durell Robinson said. “We played very well for probably 30 minutes. But it’s a 48-minute game, and Champaign showed why they are really good. You have to beat a team like that. They’re not going to beat themselves.”

Avery Smith led the Swarm for the second consecutive game with 22 points. Rashard McGill and Arnold Louis each added 16 points.

The Swarm next host the Chicago Force at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, at Parkland College. Gateway welcomes in the Bloomington Flex the same night at 7 p.m. at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo