CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Champaign Swarm outpaced the St. Louis RiverSharks for a 109-95 win on Saturday night at Parkland College, and they pulled back into a virtual tie for first place in the Midwest Professional Basketball Association.

Having already locked up a playoff spot with their win on Thursday, the Swarm became the first team to 11 wins at 11-3 and halted the RiverSharks’ six-game winning streak. Champaign also extended a home winning streak to five games.

Each team had beaten the other once on their home floor, most recently a dominant St. Louis (9-3) win on Feb. 22.

“We did what we were supposed to do this time,” said Swarm guard Aaron Weaver, who had a team-high 29 points. “We’re a transition team, so we just stuck to what we do best. We just kept pushing and pushing. That’s why we came away with the win.”

The Swarm had 11 steals and forced 20 turnovers.

After not scoring for the first three minutes of the game and falling behind 9-0, Champaign surged back and took a 27-26 lead on Malcolm Griffin’s runner late in the first quarter. Moments later Jordan Walker had a slam dunk just prior to quarter’s end, and the Swarm never lost the lead, building a 23-point advantage in the third quarter.

Every Champaign player scored and outrebounded St. Louis 57-40, a new season-high. Mark St. Fort registered his team-best sixth double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Rob Broughton, Griffin and Rashard McGill joined in with double-digit scoring.

St. Louis made several comeback attempts, shaving the deficit to eight points a handful of times in the fourth quarter. They did so on the strength of tremendous post play from Keith DeWitt and Marcus Goode.  Goode had 16 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter, often showing his range while going 10-for-12 at the free-throw line. DeWitt added 17 points but fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Former NBA D-Leaguer Brandon Provost debuted for St. Louis with 15 points on 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range. Jerrold Brooks had 13 points with eight assists.

Champaign travels to Bloomington next to face the Flex at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 12. St. Louis heads to Chicago on Friday, March 13, for a 7 p.m. tipoff against the Force.