PARIS — Having beaten Edward Little only once since the 2005-06 season, Oxford Hills probably had a here-we-go-again moment on Tuesday night when the Red Eddies cut the Vikings’ lead from 21 points to five.
One significant difference between this Oxford Hills team and the past nine or so: Then, Andrew Fleming wasn’t a senior and far-and-away the best player on the court.
Fleming scored 13 of his game-high 33 points in the third quarter, going 9-for-10 from the free-throw line, to reclaim what was lost and vault the Vikings to a 79-51 Class AA North boys’ basketball win.
“Mike Adams (of EL) is one of the best coaches I’ve coached against in my career. He’s as good as they come. You knew his kids were not going to back down and give up,” Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam said. “Unlike the other team, we’ve got Andrew. Just get the ball to Andrew and find out what happens.”
The 6-foot-6 senior flaunted his complete game, adding 13 rebounds, six blocked shots, five assists and four steals.
“He’s a man out there, no question,” Adams said. “He’s put the work in. Every kid in Maine should recognize that.”
Fleming was one of four Vikings (2-0) in double figures. His freshman brother, Matthew, coupled 12 points with 12 rebounds. Cole Verrier also added 12 points and Chris St. Pierre delivered 10, each combining that with four steals.
Senior point guard Blake Slicer, seeing his first minutes of the regular season while rounding back into shape from an ankle injury, chipped in a pair of 3-pointers.
“Everybody being able to score, people realize that if they’re not feeling it that night, they can just do the other things and somebody else will pick it up,” Fleming said.
Sophomore Darby Shea keyed the rally for EL (1-1) with 19 points off the bench, highlighted by four 3-pointers. Samatar Iman added 15 points and Jarod Norcross Plourde 14, but each fouled out by the 5:59 mark of the fourth quarter.
Oxford Hills shot 12-for-16 from the field in the first quarter and scored 17 successive points to snag a 26-5 lead with 53 seconds remaining.
Iman and Norcross-Plourde scored back-to-back buckets to end the period, but the Vikings still led by 20 when Fleming went to the bench after C.J. Jipson drew consecutive offensive fouls on the Oxford Hills star.
Shea sank three 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds to make it 41-30 at the half. A run of eight consecutive points — open trey and traditional 3-point play by Plourde, then Iman’s fast break bucket off a Jipson steal — sliced the margin to 43-38.
“It was definitely good that we withstood that run. We haven’t had something like that. Just settling down, slowing down, was what we really needed to do,” Fleming said. “They kind of sped us up. They play good team defense, and in the faster-paced game they were in the rotation to get steals.”
Four Andrew Fleming free throws and 3-pointers from Matthew Fleming and Slicer went unanswered to get the lead back to 15, and the cushion continued to grow as the Eddies’ foul difficulties deepened.
“What’s frustrating is the second half, foul trouble and our inability to play as a team,” Adams said. “They’re a really good team, and Fleming is a great player, but I don’t know if it was as much them as us getting out of what we needed to do. We didn’t distribute the ball, didn’t cut. We were easy to defend, and they made us pay for that.”
Fleming is averaging 34 points, 14 rebounds and two thunderous dunks per game this far for the Vikings, who host Portland in a showdown of two consensus state championship contenders on Friday.
Oxford Hills overcame 26 turnovers with 53 percent shooting and a 49-23 edge on the boards.
“Everybody was scoring, and that’s how we have to play. I knew it (the EL comeback) going to happen, and it’s typical of any team I guess. You get ahead by 17. You take some ridiculous shots. You gamble defensively,” Graffam said. “Fortunately Andrew was able to make some foul shots, and we took care of the ball just enough to hold them off.”
koakes@sunjournal.com
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