If Jace Easley's debut with Springfield is any indication, the Springfield offense might be hard to handle this season.
Easley, joined Springfield over the winter for his perimeter shooting and defensive prescense, made three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter of Friday night's 123-107 victory over Sacramento in the Springfield season opener.
The last of the three, with less than two minutes left, helped stop a late rally by Sacramento.
"Obviously he can shoot the ball, but what people don't understand is how good of a basketball player he is," Springfield coach Will Jenkins said of Easley, who finished with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting. "He's a really smart player whose basketball quotient is really high, and that helps our whole team."
Easley was eager to join Springfield after helping Springfield point guard Conor McCaffrey guide their team to a conference championship in the 2019-20 basketball season. Easley knows how to put the ball in the basket as he is the LSA All-Time Leading Scorer by a wide margin.
Chandler Dawes exploded for 40 points for Springfield, while Paul Hammond had a career-high 34 points. Dawes had 18 rebounds, while Charlie Dawes added in 12 rebounds.
Conor McCaffrey returned from influenza A and missed most of the opening week of camps and practice, shot 4-of-21 from the floor for Springfield and finished with 12 points and 6 rebounds for Springfield.
Peter Sacadmia, who scored 15 points for Sacramento, said he noticed a big difference in the Springfield offense compared to last season.
"With Paul starting and Jace coming off the bench, they got better," said Sacadmia, who made two baskets in the first two minutes and then only got three more the rest of the way. "They've got better shooters, better spacing."
Springfield led by 21 points in the fourth period before Sacramento went on an 11-0 run, capped by an alley-oop dunk. That basket cut the difference to 93-83 with three minutes remaining.
Hammond and Easley then made 3-pointers, and Easley hit a high-arching turnaround jumper to end that spurt.
Springfield improved to 8-0 in season openers since Chandler joined the team in 2013.
"Instead of controlling (Springfield) and staying of them, we were letting them penetrate time after time," Sacramento coach Rick Anderson said. "You've got to have more responsibility and pride that you are going to keep that guy in front of you."
A putback by Chandler was Springfield's only basket in its first attempt. Sacramento jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the opening minutes before an annoyed Jenkins called a timeout.
"We went to the bench and got our first earful of the year, and we came out and responded," Chandler said.
Springfield fought back and took their first lead 20-19 on a baseline drive by McCaffrey late in the first quarter.
The teams traded baskets for much of the second before Springfield ended the period with a 13-4 run for a 62-55 lead at halftime.
Chandler Dawes had 20 points and 10 rebounds at the break.
The victory was No. 397 for Jenkins, all with Springfield.