Butler shot a school-record 71.9 percent from the field as a team Saturday afternoon, and the Bulldogs cruised to a regular season-opening 99-57 win over Maine at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Butler shooters went 41-for-57 from the field, topping Butler's previous best mark of 69.7 percent (23-for-33) in an 80-52 win against Illinois State in the 1993-94 season.

 "I think the most dominant thought in this particular game was how our guys shared the ball," Butler Head Coach Chris Holtmann said. "Their ability to find each other and play really unselfishly has been a constant for these first couple of games and I'm really proud of them for that."

Junior Kellen Dunham led all players in scoring with 18 points. Redshirt junior Roosevelt Jones added 14 points and nine assists in his first regular season game since injuring his wrist prior to the 2013-14 season.

"It was probably the most excited I've ever been playing a game," Jones said of being able to take the court with his teammates for the first time since March 2013.

The redshirt junior guard led the team with a career-high nine assists.

"I think I do it too much sometimes," Jones jokingly said of his role as a distributor in the game. "Sometimes the coaches want me to score the ball and not pass it, but I like the role and I think I can handle it."

The Bulldogs shot a sizzling 80.5% inside the three-point arc and knocked down 50 percent (8-for-16) of their shots from three-point range.

Dunham scored 15 of his 18 points from 3-pointers, shooting 5-for-7 from beyond the arc.

"A lot of the credit goes to my teammates finding me when I was open," Dunham said. "They tried to take certain things away at certain times and my teammates, whenever my guy was leaving me, they'd find me."

Butler got out to an early lead against the Black Bears, pulling ahead 16-4 under seven minutes into the game, and never looked back. The Bulldogs took a 43-27 lead to halftime and scored the first 10 points out of the break to push the lead to 26 to start the second half.

Stellar shooting from nearly every Butler player resulted in a lead that grew steadily throughout the game, as the advantage grew to as many as 44 points with about a minute remaining in the game.

The Bulldogs drove to the lane constantly during the contest, scoring 64 points in the paint.

"Once we were able to get them in rotation, our guys made the pass and then one more," Holtmann said. "We had a lot of hockey assists tonight. Again, that was a credit to our guys reading the game as they drove and got paint touches."

Butler received 38 points from its reserves in the game as freshman Kelan Martin and senior Austin Etherington scored 12 and 11 points off the bench, respectively. Fellow newcomer, freshman Tyler Wideman scored eight points in his regular season debut.

Butler has now won 16 straight home openers to start the regular season. The 42-point margin of victory is the largest for Butler in a home opener since beating Indiana Wesleyan by 43 points in 1997.

The Bulldogs will return to Hinkle Fieldhouse Tuesday night for a 9 p.m. contest against Chattanooga. The game will be nationally televised by FOX Sports 2.