Andrew Fleming has made quite a name for himself on the Maine basketball scene over the past few years.
Just last week, the University of Maine-bound Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School senior eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career. A month before that, he signed a letter of intent to continue that career at his home-state Division I university.
And for all of the points he’s scored in the paint, or from the outside, he’s taken as much pride in helping his teammates do the same.
Monday, with modest expectations, he dished out perhaps his most important assist of the season.
With teammate Luke Allen sidelined after being diagnosed with gastroparesis this fall, Fleming made it part of his senior academic project to help raise money for Allen and his family who travel multiple times per month to Boston for Allen’s treatment and appointments.
Gastroparesis causes the stomach to not digest food. The cause of this is often unknown. According to Fleming, this season, “Luke has not been able to go to school very often, let alone play for the team and even attend games. Luke has been making many trips down to Boston Children’s Hospital.”
Fleming started a “GoFundMe” page to begin raising money. He posted the page Monday night, and, by 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, fewer than 12 hours later, donations had already eclipsed $1,600, more than half of the original $3,200 goal of the campaign. By 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, he’d raised $1,930.
To raise more money, Fleming is also planning “Viking Strong” — selling T-shirts at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at the high school. The Vikings, off to a 7-1 start and currently third in the Class AA standings, will host the Bangor Rams that night.
No matter the number of points, rebounds and steals Fleming racks up that night, or any night previous or thereafter, his off-the-court assist to Allen will remain his most important.
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