Caribou celebrates after beating Orono 51-50 in the Class B North final on Friday at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Photo by Emily Bontatibus

BANGOR — For the first time since 2022, there will be a new boys basketball champion in Class B.

Thanks to a free throw by junior Landen Belanger with o.5 seconds remaining, No. 1 Caribou beat two-time defending state champion Orono, 41-40, in the North final Friday night in front of a raucous crowd at Cross Insurance Center.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Caribou coach Kyle Corrigan said. “That’s a grind-it-out win. We didn’t play great offensively. We did not finish around the rim well. We had a lot of good looks, missed a few free throws. But you’ve got to credit Orono. They did really well on us defensively, they’re a physical team. But I’m really proud of my guys.”

Caribou (20-1) will meet South champion York in the state final at 2:45 p.m. next Saturday at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. Caribou’s last Class B title came in 2020, the second of consecutive state championships.

Tristen Robbins scored 17 points for the Vikings. Belanger, a forward, added eight points.

Orono, the No. 3 seed, finished 14-7. Junior guard Bergen Soderberg led the Red Riots with 13 points, while senior forward Will Francis added 10.

With the game tied 40-40, Belanger – who missed a layup minutes earlier — drove the lane and was fouled by Orono’s Matthew Allen. Belanger made his first free throw, immediately gesturing to a loud Caribou crowd.

“It was crazy, I was really nervous,” Belanger said. “I thought I was going to miss it, but it came through. I’m just really happy for me and my teammates.”

Belanger missed the second free throw, which was immediately rebounded by Francis, who hurled the ball as hard as he could as the buzzer sounded. The ball bounced just off the right corner of the rim.