It was quite the ending to the high school regional basketball tournament in Bangor on Saturday night. Aden Jeffers hit a jumpshot at the buzzer in lifting Fort Kent to a dramatic 48-47 win over Caribou in the Class C boys basketball regional championship game at the Cross Insurance Center.
In staying with the old adage, “saving the best for last”, these two teams certainly did. The Warriors got out to a quick 7-0 start in the first quarter, before the Vikings came alive to grab a lead helped by 11 points in the opening eight minutes by Owen Corrigan. Caribou would lead 25-19 at the half and 29-21 early in the third quarter, before Fort Kent tied it with an 8-0 spurt. Two key baskets by the Vikings had them back in front 38-34 heading into the fourth. The Warriors swayed the momentum again and big buckets by Jeffers and two putback layups by Fin Kelly had them up 46-42. Caribou grabbed the lead (47-46) on a free throw and a layup by Landen Belanger, and then a Colby Ouellette layup after a Carsen Richards steal with just over a minute left. A FK turnover with 13.9 seconds remaining gave the Vikings an opportunity to extend their advantage to three, but Chandler St. Peter missed two free throws. The Warriors called timeout to set up one final play with 5.8 seconds showing on the clock. The ball came to Jeffers who dribbled just inside the free throw on the left side of the lane and hit an off balance jumper as time expired giving Fort Kent their first ever regional title.
Jeffers finished with 24 points (15 in the second half), while also making the shot of his life. Tobias Naranja added 14 points, while Kelly who also came up with some big baskets and rebounds had six points and eight boards. Fort Kent (15-6) advances to the Class C state championship game next Saturday, 2/28 at the Augusta Civic Center when they take on South Champ Maranacook (17-4) at 8:45 p.m. Corrigan ended up with 20 points and five rebounds for Caribou (17-4). Ouellette contributed 15 points (10 in the second half) and seven rebounds. The Vikings, the 2025 Class B state champion, finish up their first year in Class C as the regional runner-up.
