Utah's season-opening, 9-of-10 shooting pace did not last forever, but the strong start carried the Utes to a 75-61 basketball victory over Maine on Thursday night at the Huntsman Center.
Senior guard Sedrick Barefield led the Utes with 18 points, although he made 1 of 10 shots during a long stretch of the game. Sophomore forward Donnie Tillman scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half, before being hit with foul trouble.
The Utes looked sharp from the start, hitting their first seven shots from the field in taking a 25-10 lead. And less than eight minutes into the game, Utah had gone 9 of 10 (the miss was a 3-pointer that went in and out of the basket) and scored 25 points against a Maine team that had allowed 27 first-half points in Tuesday's 62-50 loss at Denver.