March 12, 2015

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Bloomington Flex regained sole possession of first place in the Midwest Professional Basketball Association with a 103-93 win over the Champaign Swarm Thursday night at U.S. Cellular Coliseum, but, more importantly for the Flex, they secured a season-series win over the Swarm and now hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over Champaign in the event the two teams finish the regular season with identical records.

                    Bloomington upped its league-best record to 12-2, while Champaign fell to 11-4.

                    A slow first quarter saw the teams exchange the lead several times, as both defenses wouldn’t allow the offenses to get on track.  The Flex, wearing their throwback Central Illinois Drive uniforms, led after one, 24-17.

                    The Flex jumped out to a ten-point lead in the second quarter at 29-19, but a 14-4 run by Champaign tied the game up on an Aaron Weaver layup with 5:37 left in the half.  The Flex finished the second up 44-41.

                    The second half started in much the same way as the first, with Champaign’s defense suffocating the Flex.  The Swarm pulled ahead 50-49 on a Malcolm Griffin layup with 6:56 left in the third quarter, and the teams exchanged the lead several more times until the period ended with the Flex up 69-67.

                    The Flex opened up a seven-point lead in the opening minutes of the fourth, but Champaign went on a 12-1 run to take a four-point lead at 81-77 halfway through the period.  The teams exchanged the lead in the ensuing two minutes, until Trey Blue hit a layup on a pretty feed from Justin Bocot under the basket to give the Flex the lead they would not relinquish.

                    Strong free-throw shooting down the stretch allowed Bloomington to balloon the lead to the final margin of ten.  Justin Bocot led the Flex with 28 points, and Anthony Slack and Matt Salley each had double-doubles for Bloomington.

                    Malcolm Griffin scored 24 for Champaign, and Avery Smith had 21.  The Flex and Swarm meet again Saturday in Champaign for the final regular-season meeting between the two teams.