Ashton Leclerc and his Gorham High teammates all knew what the objective was on its first possession of their basketball game against Bonny Eagle on Tuesday.

Leclerc needed three points to become the fourth boy in school history to reach 1,000 career points. The plan was to get Leclerc a good look from behind the arc. Right away.

“Coach (Ryan) Deschenes told me they were going to run a set play on the first play for me and if I was open, to shoot it. And my teammates were supportive of that,” Leclerc said. “It was cool for it to come together.”

Leclerc came off a high pick, caught a pass about 23 feet from the basket, went up for the shot and drained the 3-pointer. He would go on to score 29 more points with six more 3s in a 64-48 home victory that improved Gorham to 14-2.

The Rams have two road games left in the regular season – at South Portland (7-8), which has won seven of its last 10 games, on Friday and then at No. 2 Scarborough (12-3) next Thursday.

“I think we’ve got to win one of those two games” to cinch the top seed and the regional quarterfinal bye that comes with it, Deschenes said.

Getting the bye has been a season-long goal for the Rams, particularly for seniors Leclerc, Gabe Michaud, and Caden Smith, who have started since their sophomore year.

“The main goal is to get to the civic center, obviously, because the last two years we’ve come up sort. We’ve lost in the quarterfinals,” Leclerc said. “We want to close out the season strong so we don’t have to play (a quarterfinal) at home.”

Last season the Rams were upset at home by Scarborough in the quarterfinal.

“After that season me and my two best friends (Michaud and Smith), we got together and said this is not happening again,” Leclerc said.

Leclerc said he knew 1,000 points was attainable after a sophomore year when he averaged over 17 points a game. As a freshman, in the truncated COVID campaign, he also started several games because of an injury to a veteran player.

“Scoring 1,000 points is always significant in this state,” said Deschenes, who is in his first season as Gorham’s coach after 11 seasons at Gray-New Gloucester. “Especially for these seniors, they’re doing it in essentially three seasons. And then playing in Class AA, the coaching, the physical play, the defenses are all so tough.”

Leclerc, averaging 21 points a game, is within striking distance of the Gorham boys’ all-time scoring record of 1,123 set by Keith Young. Leclerc has 1,029.

Next season Leclerc will play basketball at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, a member of the Division III Commonwealth Coast Conference.

ED FEENEY ALWAYS looked out for the kids who needed a helping hand. In his 40 years as a physical education teacher in Portland schools and as the highly successful Portland High girls’ basketball coach from 1979 to 2007, Feeney routinely dipped into his own pocket to quietly assist underprivileged students.

“I’ve done that many times,” said Feeney, 77, who retired as a teacher in 2010. “I had kids on the basketball team and I had them in school and they needed things and I provided them, that’s all.”

Thanks to a $50,000 gift from an anonymous donor to the Foundation for Portland Public Schools, Feeney’s example will now be followed. The nonprofit FPPS has established the Ed Feeney Athletics Fund and is currently underway raising a matching $50,000 from individuals and local businesses and foundations.

Now when Portland schools’ coaches, teachers or social workers learn of a student who lacks basic athletic gear they can tap into the Feeney Athletics Fund to purchase what’s needed.

“We are thrilled and honored by this donation,” said Andrea Weisman Summers, the FPPS executive director. “This is a chance to provide equity of opportunity for all Portland youth, build stronger sports teams in Portland, and honor Coach Feeney. When we reach our full match goal of $100,000, we plan to expand the program to middle school sports.”

Feeney won 415 games, 11 Western Maine titles and three state championships (1984, 1985, 1988) coaching the Portland girls. He is in both the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame.

“It’s really great to have someone step up and do something like this in my name,” said Feeney, who grew up on Munjoy Hill and still lives in Portland. “It’s for a great cause. There are just so many kids that need things and this is one way of helping out.”

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