March 19, 2015

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The St. Louis RiverSharks are only the second team in history to beat the Bloomington Flex more than once.  The Flex (12-3) will need to prevent a third win by St. Louis (10-4) tonight in order to have a chance at hosting a postseason series between the two teams come April.

                    St. Louis beat the Flex on January 4 and February 26 in St. Louis, breaking Flex streaks of 24 and nine games, respectively.  The Flex won in Bloomington on January 15.  Bloomington currently sits atop the Midwest Professional Basketball Association standings, percentage points and a tiebreaker ahead of Champaign (13-4), which beat Chicago last night.  The RiverSharks are in third.

                    “They pose some problems for us,” said Flex head coach Carlnel Wiley, Jr.  “They’re big, they’re athletic, they defend, they shoot, they run.  There’s not much they don’t do well.”

                    Jerrold Brooks leads the RiverSharks with a 24.9 points-per-game average, on an incredible 33-of-60 (.550) from three-point range.  Brooks is one of five RiverSharks scoring in double figures.  Center Keith DeWitt scores 18.5 per game and pulls down a team-leading 9.8 rebounds per contest.

                    Justin Bocot continues to pace the Flex and the MPBA with a 26.8 per-game average.  C.J. Hampton leads the MPBA in three-point field goals made with 41, and Anthony Slack is the league’s leading rebounder with an 11.3 per-game average.  And with three blocked shots tonight, Slack would also lead the MPBA in that category.

                    Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m.  Fans can watch the game live and in high definition free of charge on the MPBA website.