April 2, 2015

CHICAGO – The Bloomington Flex used a strong fourth quarter by Justin Bocot and Fabyon Harris to pull away from a gritty Windy City Groove team, ending their regular season with a 119-108 win at Kroc Center.

                    The Flex finish the regular season at 16-4, and await the outcome of the St. Louis RiverSharks-Gateway Steam game on Tuesday, April 7, to see who they will face in the playoffs.  The loss eliminated the Groove from playoff contention; they end their inaugural season at 4-16.

                    Bloomington jumped out to a ten-point lead in the first quarter on two different occasions, but both times, the Groove reeled the Flex back in, with the period ending in favor of the Flex 30-29.

                    Deveon Jenkins gave the Groove the lead with the first bucket of the second quarter, but the Flex used a 9-0 run to open an eight-point lead at 39-31.    Bloomington held the lead for the rest of the quarter, as a late Nate Fuqua three-pointer for Windy City cut the lead to four at halftime, 57-53.

                    The third quarter was a three-point shootout between Fuqua and the Flex.  Fuqua hit three pointers on three consecutive possessions, while Bloomington got bombs from C.J. Hampton, Bocot and Harris.  Windy City outscored the Flex 32-26 in the quarter to take an 85-83 lead into the fourth.

                    Bocot tied the game at 88 on a three-point play with 10:30 to play, but a Darrin Johnson three-pointer sparked the on a run which saw them take a 95-88 lead.

                    That’s when Harris and Bocot took over for the Flex.  Harris hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions, and followed that with a layup to turn Bloomington’s deficit into a six-point lead at 102-96 with just under six minutes to play.

                    The Groove would get to within two at 103-101, but would get no closer, as Bocot, Harris and Ray Miller pushed the lead to ten with just over a minute remaining.

                    Bocot led the Flex with 32 points, while Harris and Hampton added 25.  Anthony Slack had 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. 

                    Douglas had 35 for Windy City, while Fuqua poured in 25 and grabbed ten rebounds.  Kenyon Smith added 15, Deveon Jenkins had 14, and Darrin Johnson had 13 for the Groove.