January 14, 2016

ST. LOUIS – Six of the seven Midwest Professional Basketball Association teams will be in action over the coming holiday weekend, as both Chicago teams host their home openers, and Pontiac, Lima and Champaign each take their home floors for the second time.

                The Chicago Blues and Windy City Groove host a double-header Saturday at the Kroc Center in Chicago, with the Blues (0-0) taking on the St. Louis RiverSharks (1-0) and the Windy City Groove (1-0) tangle with the Lima Express (0-1).

                The Blues, in their season opener, feature three MPBA veterans: Jordan Johnson, Tremell Adams, and Antoine Ware.  Johnson, the son of Groove coach Handy Johnson, comes over from the Groove, while Adams and Ware played for Blues coach Rick Pryor last year when the team was known as the Chicago Force.  Adams was the February 23, 2015 Player of the Week in the MPBA, for a three-game stretch in which he scored 36, 25, and 40 points in five days.

                The RiverSharks are coming off a big come-from-behind win at Lima last Sunday.  Justin Bocot scored 21 second-half points en route to a total of 32, and was named the league’s co-Player of the Week.

                Windy City, meanwhile, opened the MPBA season with a road win over the defending champion Champaign Swarm.  Dion Cooksey led the Groove with 30 points and seven assists, while Isiah Martin had 17 points and ten rebounds.  In their loss to St. Louis, the Express featured three twenty-point scorers: Kyle Meyer (25), Cordaryl Ballard (23), and James Helton (20). 

                Saturday night, the Pontiac 66ers host the Champaign Swarm.  More than 800 fans packed Pontiac’s inaugural game last Sunday, when they saw Jake Anderson pour in 34 points to help hold off a late charge from the Gateway Steam. 

                Then, on Sunday, Lima will return home to host the Blues, while Monday, the Swarm will host the 66ers in a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day matinee. 

                All MPBA games can be seen live and in high definition at MPBA.tv free of charge.