CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Despite playing short-handed and a furious fourth quarter from the Chicago Force, the Champaign Swarm grabbed a 115-112 victory on Thursday night at Parkland College.

The win pushes their record to 8-2 and keeps the Swarm one-half game out of first place behind Bloomington halfway through the season in the Midwest Professional Basketball Association. Chicago dropped to 3-7.

See box score here.

The Swarm never trailed after Rob Broughton’s putback to put Champaign ahead 60-58 early in the third quarter.  But Chicago battled back from a 12-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, led by Tramell Adams’ 20 points in the final period. The Force came within two with under three minutes to play, before the Swarm started to pull away, hitting seven of their final 11 free throws.

“Teams are starting to improve and adjustments are being made,” Swarm head coach Chris Daleo said regarding a lopsided Swarm win in the prior matchup between the two teams. “The Force had us on our heels a bit and played aggressive in the second half.  But our guys started to play together and understand what was going on.”

Aaron Weaver came off the Champaign bench to lead all scorers with 37 points, a season-high and the second biggest output of the season for a Swarm player. He did much of his work on 19-of-23 free-throw shooting, producing several and-1 opportunities.

“Aaron Weaver is the perfect example of what this league can do for a guy who would otherwise not be playing anywhere and not be able to showcase his skills,” Daleo said.  “He was referred to me and we brought him in. He’s working hard, and now’s he starting to put up numbers. He needs to keep working and stay consistent and we’ll see where it goes.”

Erin Pryor led all Chicago scorers with 30 points, thanks to seven three-pointers. Derrick McDonald has a solid performance with 23 points.  Chicago hit 13 three-pointers total in 28 attempts.

Swarm forward Mark St. Fort had the lone double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Champaign controlled the boards, outrebounding Chicago 53-32.

Chicago faces Gateway at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22, in St. Louis, while the Swarm rematch with their Opening Day opponents, the St. Louis RiverSharks, at 4 p.m. the same day in St. Louis. Both games will be broadcast on www.theMPBA.com.