Keeshawn Barthelemy scored 22 points, Jabari Walker had 15, and the Colorado Buffaloes beat the Maine Black Bears 90-46 in Boulder, Colo., on Monday night.
Nique Clifford added 10 points for the Buffaloes (3-0), who had 10 players score and used a surge late in the first half to take control.
Vukasin Masic scored 11 points and Chris Efretuei added 10 for the Black Bears (1-2). Maine had 17 turnovers that led to 25 points for Colorado. The Buffaloes allowed just five points off turnovers.
The Black Bears stayed close early in the game and took a 13-11 lead on a 3-pointer from Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish with 13:32 left in the first half.
It was tied at 15 with 8:50 left but the Buffaloes started to get going offensively. Barthelemy’s dunk gave Colorado the lead and sparked a 10-4 run before Maine got back within 25-22.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Clifford and a three-point play by Barthelemy helped the Buffaloes end the half on a 21-7 run and a 46-29 lead at intermission.
The Black Bears opened the second half with a 3-pointer from Milos Nenadic to get within 14 but Barthelemy made back-to-back layups, Elijah Parquet had a dunk, Walker drained two free throws and Barthelemy had another layup to make it 56-32 with 16 minutes left.
Colorado continued to build on its lead after a timeout. Lawson Lovering made two free throws and K.J. Simpson had an offensive rebound and layup to make it a 28-point lead.
Maine finally broke the surge when Efretuei scored with 13:40 left but the Buffaloes continued to pad their lead. Julian Hammond III made a jumper, Simpson scored off a turnover and Luke O’Brien hit a 3-pointer to push the advantage to 31 points, 67-36.
The Black Bears finally got some offense going and cut the deficit to 27 but Colorado scored the next nine points to lead by 36 and closed it out from there.
–Field Level Media
