The Armor fell behind early and could never make up the difference.
Coach Bob MacKinnon's Springfield Armor had no answers for the Canton Charge Saturday night.
SPRINGFIELD - It's not easy playing basketball from behind, and even harder when the game is 2-on-5.
The Springfield Armor were brutally reminded of those lessons in Saturday night's ultra-ugly 118-88 loss to Canton.
This was a game that saw the Charge in charge from the outset. It was never really close, but it got out of hand in the fourth quarter, when Canton outscored the Armor 32-15 in the NBA Development League game.
"You can't play from behind all the time. We talked about it and thought we had a handle on it,'' said Armor coach Bob MacKinnon, whose team had used a second-half rally to beat Fort Wayne Friday night.
Not this time. Not even close.
"Too many possessions got away. We got crushed on the boards (54-29), we didn't defend, there was no toughness or resistance and no sense of urgency,'' MacKinnon said.
"This is a professional game. We didn't play like professionals.''
The rout came one night after Springfield had tied a franchise record with 63 rebounds, an effort that helped overcome an 18-point deficit in the 108-100 win over Fort Wayne.
With Saturday night's loss at the MassMutual Center, Springfield fell to 3-2.
Ben Uzoh scored 30 points and James Mays had 25 for the Armor, but their production wasn't nearly enough to tip the scales against Canton, which ousted the Armor from last season's D-League playoffs.
Uzoh's previous career high had been 27 in a 2011 game. He could not stop the Charge from avenging an Opening Night overtime loss at home to Springfield.
Forward Kyle Gibson scored 25 points for the Charge, who placed six scorers in double figures. Center Arinze Onuaka not only scored 13 points, but grabbed nine of Canton's 20 offensive rebounds and had 12 boards in all.
The first half was choppy and frustrating for the Armor, who fell into an early hole and trailed 60-47 at the break.
Uzoh scored 18 points with three assists and four steals in the first half. The 6-foot-3 guard has been getting the attention of NBA teams.
Uzoh has 60 games of NBA experience. He came into Saturday's game with averages of 14.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game.
He had help from Mays, a 6-foot-8 forward who scored 17 points in the first half. Canton's defense has been no mystery to Mays, a former Clemson star whose previous season high was 23 points in the season opener at Canton.
Springfield lost forward Carleton Scott, who played only three minutes before suffering an ankle sprain. They were also without center Willie Reed, who sat out with foot problems.
"Willie thought he might be able to play in an emergency, but these are guys' careers we're talking about,'' MacKinnon said.
"I told Willie I'd rather lose by 30 than take the risk. Unfortunately, I was right.''
Seven-foot center Chas McFarland came alive in the second half and had a season-high 13 points for Springfield.
Springfield hurt itself with frosty 38.9-percent shooting in the game, and shot blanks with 0-for-8 shooting on 3-pointers. Canton shot 51.2 percent.
"It was a team effort, from me on down. We need more from everybody - none of us did our jobs tonight,'' MacKinnon said.
Canton improved to 2-4. All four losses have been by single digits.