Heading into game three of the 2021-2022 season, Colorado had to fight and claw (to varying degrees) in order to get wins over Montana State and New Mexico.

The Bobcats notably took CU to overtime in both teams' season openers last Wednesday while New Mexico proved to be far from a pushover opponent on Saturday.

That said, moving to 3-0 on the year by taking down the Maine Black Bears Monday evening at home proved to be a far less strenuous task, as CU led by 17 at halftime and never looked back, cruising to a 90-46 win.

"Not a nailbiter tonight," thank goodness," Tad Boyle said after the win. "Didn't have to worry as much down the stretch."

"...Overall, I'm pleased. We hit a lot of our numbers tonight, in terms of our individual game goals: 40% defensive field goal percentage, plus-eight on the boards, we only gave up five threes, only gave up four offensive rebounds and we had 10 turnovers. When you hit those numbers, the score kind of takes care of itself."

Keeshawn Barthelemy was without doubt the offensive star of the game for Colorado, as he had 14 points in the first half alone and finished with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

Scoring had been far from an issue for the redshirt sophomore point guard to date early into this season, evidenced by his solid 19.5 points per game average through two games, but ball security, on the other hand, had looked lackluster.

Barthelemy had an alarming seven turnovers in Saturday's victory over the Lobos but vs. Maine, he managed to lock things up to good effect.

Early in the second half, after he had hit 20 points on the night, Barthelemy still had not committed a single turnover.

He committed one late in the second half on a traveling call for his lone infraction of the game.

"I just wanted to play my game and be aggressive and just look for good offensive possessions for my team," Barthelemy said. "I just had one turnover at the end (of the game) but overall, I felt like I did a good job taking care of the ball."

Barthelemy also played a key role in the Buffs' red hot start to the second half, scoring six points in what ended up being an 18-2 run by Colorado over the first seven minutes.

In three games this season, Barthelemy has now scored 19, 20 and 22 points.

At the under-12 media timeout of the final half, CU held a commanding 67-36 lead, thanks to an 80% (8-of-10) make rate from the floor.

Colorado enjoyed an ideal night at the office in just about every statistical category.

The Buffaloes continued to dominate the glass, edging the Black Bears, 45-23, in rebounding on the night.

For the first time this year, CU kept turnovers well in check throughout the entirety of the game. Following 16 turnovers against Montana State and 18 against New Mexico, the Buffs had 10 Saturday, with the majority coming in garbage time.

Shots fell early and often for the Buffs, who collectively made 54% of their total shots (31-of-57).

Three quarters of the way through the first half, things remained quite close at the CU Events Center, with the Buffs holding just a 25-22 lead with 5:06 to go before halftime.

But 90 seconds later, CU had jumped to a 33-22 advantage on an 8-0 run behind back-to-back three-pointers from Barthelemy and Nique Clifford plus a steal-turned-layup that started at halfcourt by Tristan da Silva.

That sequence prompted a Maine timeout with 3:33 left in the first half. The Black Bears got their deficit down to nine points a few times in the ensuing minutes, but Colorado closed out the half strong.

Julian Hammond III's first collegiate points, coming via the free throw line, gave Colorado a 46-29 lead at halftime.

As the second half got underway, the Buffaloes went on an 18-3 run over its first seven minutes.

By that time, with 12:51 remaining in the game, CU led, 64-34.

"I think we put a lot of pressure on our bench when we don't separate at the beginning of games," Walker said. "We just said that we can't do that. We accepted the responsibility of starting the game off...the second half, we got off to a better start so we didn't have to put pressure on the bench."

KJ Simpson and Hammond III made the most of extra minutes down the stretch of the second half; the former had nine points on 4-of-5 shooting plus three assists, while Hammond III contributed eight points.

After Hammond III hit a pair of free throws with about four-and-a-half minutes to play, Simpson drained a three-pointer shortly thereafter, giving the Buffaloes their biggest lead of the night, 85-45.

Contributing a solid offensive performance was Jabari Walker, whose 15 points (5-of-9) on the night were second only to Barthelemy, while Clifford had 10 points and five boards.

Up next for the Buffaloes is a trip to St. Thomas, capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they'll participate in the Paradise Jam Tournament over the weekend, first facing Southern Illinois Friday night at 6 p.m. MST.

You can catch the game on ESPN3.