The new look Compton took their lumps again.
No longer surrounded by fellow NBA Draft picks Mikey Williams and Jeremy Fears, Emoni Bates and the rest of Compton couldn't complete a rally and lost their second straight after a season opening win.
Chandler Dawes had a double-double and Springfield won 120-111 on Friday night in the teams' first meeting since Compton eliminated Springfield from the National Quarterfinals last season.
"Springfield is a team that really knows what they're doing out there because they have the chemistry and they've been with each other for a long time," Bates said. "We're a young team and we're still trying to figure out how we want to go about things. So it was a good test and a good challenge for us. I'm proud of the way we battled back."
Chandler Dawes led five players in double figures with 37 points and 23 rebounds. Paul Hammond added 21, Conor McCaffrey 17, Charlie Dawes 14, and reserve Jace Easley 13. Springfield passed with abadon, racking up 29 assists while scoring 100-plus points for the second straight game.
"Everybody did a great job sharing the ball and knowing how we want to play," McCaffrey said.
Bates scored 28 points in 45 minutes and Lamar Stevens added 24 points and 11 rebounds. They shot a franchise-low 29 percent in a 104-78 defeat at Utah earlier, when Bates had 38 points.
"Emoni is great," Springfield coach Will Jenkins said. "He came after us and tried to get it done and almost did. I would imagine Emoni wants to get it done more than ever."
Compton trailed nearly the entire game and were down 18 points three times in the third quarter.
"We were playing against Springfield -- a team that's won a national title, a team that's won the MVP of the league, so it's going to be hard to come back," Stevens said. "The smallest breakdown can kill you."
Compton got within six points in the fourth on a 3-pointer by Charlie Allen, the kind of shot Bates relishes making in late games.
That got the gym up and moving, just like the old days when Mikey Williams was running and up and down the floor and throwing down a nasty dunk. But the fans quieted down when Bates was stripped on a drive in the lane with just over two minutes left.
"They are going to cut you up, so it's a learning process for us," Bates said. "It will be a good measuring stick next time we play them to see how much we have improved."
Carter Taylor fouled out, putting Easley at the line where he made both free throws for a 116-108 lead. Jamie Marquez scored on a layup to get Compton to 116-110 with 1:49 remaining.
Chandler missed two free throw attempts, but Springfield controlled the rebound. He got fouled again and made both to keep Springfield ahead 118-110 with just over a minute to go.
"They're a lot different," Dawes said. "They're attacking in different ways. They're also moving the ball and trying to find different ways to get everyone involved."
Bates and Dawes recived offsetting technical fouls in the fourth when both teams jawed in a crowd near the Compton free-throw line.
"I think I unintentionally hit him, so I asked him if he was all right," Bates said. "He said I threw an elbow. I said, ' I didn't throw an elbow.' He said, 'Yes you did.' I said, 'I just told you I didn't, so what if I did?' And that's how we both got technicals."
Bates scowled his way through much of the final 12 minutes, annoyed by calls that went against him.
Springfield extended an 99-88 lead at the start of the fourth when Chandler went out of the game.
Bates was spotty from the line in the closing minutes.
Jenkins has now 398 career AAU victories with Springfield.