BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Champaign Swarm kept control in the second half of Thursday night’s MPBA Semi-Final game and beat the Bloomington Flex, 111-100, to earn a spot in Friday night’s Championship Game.

The third-seeded Swarm will play the No.-1 seeded St. Louis RiverSharks at 7 p.m. Friday at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington. St. Louis beat Gateway 153-129 in the earlier Semi-Final.

After a first half  that had nine ties and eight lead changes, Robert Broughton’s 18-foot jumper in the final minute of the first half put the Swarm up 50-48. They never trailed again.

The Swarm began building a lead in the third quarter on the strength of guard play, and they twice extended it to a 14-point margin. Bloomington came no closer than eight points in the fourth quarter.  Avery Smith had a team-high 27 points and Malcolm Griffin had 25 on 12-of-22 shooting.

“Our guys felt they had something to prove,” Swarm head coach Chris Daleo said. “We had some bulletin board material. Avery and Malcolm felt they had something to prove along with a lot other guys.”

Here Daleo's full postgame comments.

Broughton, Josh Chichester and Jordan Walker joined with double-digit scoring.

“We changed our lineup a bit and went 10 deep,” Daleo said. “It was team effort, and as a team we felt we had something to prove. Guys wanted to show that they were better than some people were giving them credit for.”

Bloomington’s C.J. Hampton led all scorers with 34 points, including eight three-pointers. Matt Salley and Anthony Slack each had double-doubles for the Flex.

Bloomington lost a playoff game for the first time in it’s four-year history.

Champaign faces St. Louis tomorrow night for the fifth team this year. Each has won two contests. St. Louis won the most recent on Mar. 29, 111-90.

“We have to be 10, 11 strong (tomorrow night),” Daleo said.  “We have to take care of our business.  Everyone has to play to their strengths.”