BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Champaign Swarm looked like they might have been on their last legs, trailing by 13 points early in the fourth quarter, but an offensive onslaught by Avery Smith and Malcolm Griffin shocked the St. Louis RiverSharks and spurred the Swarm to the first-ever Midwest Professional Basketball Association Championship with a 115-106 win at U. S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington.

A tight first quarter ended 25-20 in favor of the RiverSharks, but St. Louis sniper Jerrold Brooks exploded for five three-pointers, and helped the RiverSharks open up a 17-point lead at 57-40 with less than a minute left in the half, which ended 58-44.

Back-to-back three-point plays by Smith midway through the third got the Swarm to within five at 68-63, but St. Louis widened the gap back to 12 before the quarter ended with the RiverSharks up 80-72.

A couple of early baskets in the fourth pushed the St. Louis lead to 13 at 85-72, but that’s when Smith, who was named Playoff Most Valuable Player began his assault.  A LaPhonso Ellis, Jr. three-pointer followed by a Robert Broughton bucket gave the Swarm a 91-90 lead with 4:56 to play, and they never trailed again after Smith hit a three-pointer on the next possession.

“We kept our composure, knowing we’ve come back in games before,” Smith said. “We got a couple stops, and that got us going in the fourth quarter.”

Champaign went up by 11 at 106-95, and St. Louis never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

“I knew if it got close we were going to win,” Smith said.

Smith finished with 37 points to lead all scorers, while Griffin had 28 for Champaign, which shot 64 percent from the floor in the second half and 52 percent  overall.

“We said going in we needed to be 10-people strong, and we were,” Swarm head coach Chris Daleo said. “Coming off back-to-back games, I knew we were going to be off to a slow start.   We needed something to get a spark. It was the isolation of Mark St. Fort on Marcus Goode; it was two big threes by LaPhonso Ellis, and then it was controlling the tempo down the stretch.”

 Brooks finished with 36 for St. Louis, while Harry Marshall had 27 points.  Marcus Goode added 23 points and 12 rebounds for the RiverSharks.

“It always feels good to leave a building a winner,” Daleo said.