March 18, 2015

CHICAGO – The Champaign Swarm set a new single-game league high for points and cruised to a 142-99 win over the Chicago Force on Wednesday night at the Kroc Center in Chicago.

The Swarm (13-4) completed the season sweep of Chicago (3-14) and pulled into a virtual tie with Bloomington Flex for first place in the Midwest Professional Basketball Association.  The Flex are 12-3.

“It was a good team win.  We got a lot of players involved,” Swarm head coach Chris Daleo said. “Our transition defense still needs some work, and we need to clean up some things to ready for remaining road in games in St. Louis.”

Aaron Weaver led all scorers with 35 points for the Swarm, and Malcolm Griffin poured in 29. Four other players had double-digit scoring, including newcomer Josh Chichester, who chipped in 13 points.

Chicago led 31-29 after a tight first quarter, but the Swarm took a 38-37 lead in the second quarter after a pair of Weaver free throws and never looked back.

Derrick McDonald paced the Force with 28.  Tremell Adams added 24, and Darius Smith dropped in 10.

Champaign is off until a trip to face the Gateway Steam at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo.  The Force play their intra-city rival Windy City Groove Sunday at 4:00 p.m.