BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Champaign Swarm still cannot solve the Bloomington Flex.

The Swarm fell to the Flex for the third time this season in as many tries, this time 103-93, at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington on Thursday night. The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for Champaign, which dropped to 1 ½ games behind the first-place Flex.

Champaign (11-4) gets one more shot at Bloomington (12-2) on Saturday night at Parkland College, the final home game of the regular season.

Both teams have already secured playoff spots, but Bloomington now owns a head-to-head tiebreaker when determining postseason seeding.

Bloomington led for almost the entire first half but was up just 44-41 at halftime. The two squads traded the lead several times in the second half. Bloomington grabbed their final lead at 86-85 on Trey Blue’s bucket midway through the fourth quarter. The Flex closed out the game on a 21-8 run.

Malcolm Griffin was a bright spot for the Swarm, erupting for 24 points -- 18 in the first half -- in his third game with the team. Avery Smith added 21 points, despite hampered by an injury.

The difference in the game may have been at the free throw line. The Swarm were whistled for 36 fouls compared to 25 for Bloomington. Bloomington scored 30 of their points at the stripe despite shooting 58 percent as a team. Champaign was 20-of-29.

Bloomington guard Justin Bocot led all scorers with 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting. Anthony Slack and Matt Salley teamed up for a pair of double-doubles. Slack had 6 points and 13 rebounds; Salley had 12 and 10.

The conclusion of the home-and-away series is at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, at Parkland College in Champaign.