January 24, 2016

BLOOMINGTON, Illinois – At U.S. Cellular Coliseum, the Champaign Swarm seem to have the number of the St. Louis RiverSharks.

Despite starting the season 0-4, the Swarm defeated the previously unbeaten RiverSharks 110-94 in a rematch of the 2015 Midwest Professional Basketball Association Championship Game, which the Swarm also won on this floor.

St. Louis led for half of the first quarter before seven straight points by Michael Rogers gave the Swarm their first lead of the game at 20-19.  St. Louis briefly regained the lead, but an 11-0 run at the end of the quarter gave Champaign a 33-22 cushion heading into the second.

The Swarm pushed the lead to 18 in the second and ended the half up 59-41.

St. Louis started the third quarter on a 9-2 run, and continued to claw its way back into the game, drawing to within nine on a Terry Leake three-pointer with 2:48 left in the third.  The Swarm ended the third up 81-68.

The RiverSharks continued to hang around inside of ten points, when a Justin Bocot three-pointer with 6:31 left in the game cut the Swarm lead to six at 90-84.  St. Louis, however, would get no closer, as three consecutive Jordan Walker baskets for Champaign widened the lead back to 13 at 103-90.

Adrien Coleman led the Swarm with 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting.  Walker finished with 25, and Michael Rogers had 22 points and eleven rebounds for Champaign (1-4).

Gavin Schumann led St. Louis with 23 points, while Bocot, making his return to his hometown, scored 22 points in 47 minutes.  Terry Leake added 18, and Bruce Massey tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds for the RiverSharks (2-1).