BANGOR, Maine - The University of Maine men's basketball team rolled to victory in their season opener against Merrimack College on Wednesday night, taking down the visitors by a 84-64 final score behind Andrew Fleming's 37 points.

The first half saw a bit of history made, as Fleming hit a free throw to eclipse 1,000 career points,  just the 31st Maine basketball player to reach four figures in a career.

Maine got their season off on nearly a perfect foot,  opening the game on an 11 minute 22-7 run where they shot 64.2% from the field to sprint out to a 15-point advantage. The Merrimack program hung tough in their first ever Division I contest, responding with a 26-21 advantage for the remainder of the half to head into halftime trailing by just a ten-point spread at 43-33.

The Black Bears distanced themselves immediately in the second half, opening up with a blistering 17-0 run, putting themselves up 69-46 with around nine minutes to go, all the space they needed to cruise to the 84-64 final score victory.

It was Andrew Fleming's day at the Cross Insurance Center, as he nearly eclipsed his career-high of 38 points, putting up a 37 point, 10 rebound, five assist, two block, +20 performance playing all 40 minutes and shooting 66.6% from the field and going 13-15 at the free throw line. Junior Vilgot Larsson also put up a fine performance, totaling 19 points, five assists, and four rebounds while going 7-11 from the field. Sergio El Darwich dished out six assists, and Nedeljko Prijovic grabbed a game-high 11 boards to round out the offensive leaders for Maine. 

Maine will put its spotless 1-0 record on the line this Sunday, when they hit the road to take on Harvard in Cambridge at 2:00 PM.  

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