Springfield was back at its defensive finest against winless Oakland.
Springfield held Oakland to 33 percent shooting from the field in rolling to a 109-89 victory Saturday morning. Oakland trailed by double figures much of the game in losing its fifth straight game.
It was a far cry from a poor defensive effort in a 111-130 loss to Seattle last night.
"It was a complete defensive effort," Springfield coach Will Jenkins said. "We sustained it pretty well. That got us a win against a team that is trying to find its way and is playing hard."
Springfield needed a late push to put Oakland away. Oakland closed within seven points at the start of the fourth, but were held scoreless over a five-minute span.
"I thought we executed a lot better," Springfield center Chandler Dawes said. "Defensively we were solid. We came out in the first half aggressively and that's what we wanted to do."
Dawes had 32 points and 25 rebounds and Paul Hammond added 29 points to lead Springfield.
Dawes had 12 points, 12 rebounds and 5 of his 7 blocks in the first quarter alone as Springfield took a 29-18 lead.
Oakland took advantage of early foul trouble on Conor McCaffrey to cut the lead to 35-31 with a 9-2 in the second quarter.
With McCaffrey on the bench, Oakland point guard Sterling Bennett scored five points in that run against Springfield backup Jake Pollen. Pollen responded and played out the rest of the first half for Springfield as the lead expanded out to 15.
"We had some opportunites to capitalize, but tonight wasn't one of them," Oakland coach Mike Montgomery said. "We had three games we could have won. As a result we dug ourselves into a hole and now its going to be difficult."
Mario Temple's first game against Springfield in an Oakland uniform was far less heartbreaking for Springfield than his last visit to the arena. Temple had only two points in his first game in Springfield since hitting the game-winning bucket for Compton in Game 5 of last season's National Quarter-Finals.
Springfield didn't give Temple or any of the players on Oakland a chance for a game-winning shot.
Temple, who was booed heavily each time he entered the game, was 1-of-5 from the field with two turnovers.
"It was a tough loss for us," Temple said. "I didn't want too get too emotional for tonight's game, but when the fans give you a ncie welcome like that, it's hard not to. When they boo you, that means they respect you."
Springfield head coach Will Jenkins picked up AAU career victory 399, all with Springfield. This was the 410th career double-double for Chandler Dawes.