LOWELL — Tears poured out of Caden Sullivan and head coach CJ Neely. The emotions were too much to contain. Franklin finally reached the mountaintop.

Sullivan scored a game-high 31 points, including two crucial free throws with 6.1 seconds remaining, while Newton North’s game tying three-point attempt at the buzzer just missed as No. 1 Franklin captured the Division 1 state title for the first time in with a 55-52 win over the No. 3 Tigers on Sunday night at the Tsongas Center.

Franklin (25-1) appeared in the state title game in 2017, 2018, and last season only to see all three trips end without a championship trophy.

“This senior group has been through so many ups and downs together. We’ve lost a few friends to cancer and car crashes. This is one way to do it for them,” Sullivan said. “I am just at a loss for words. This senior class — I am proud of every single one of them.”

The night was a fitting cap to Sullivan’s career. The guard finished as a 1,000-point scorer, the all-time leading scorer in program history, and was the key player on a Franklin team that lost three Hockomock League All-Stars from its tournament run a year ago. Jake Olmstead (11 points, 4 assists) was the only other Panther on Sunday in double figures.

“The wait from Monday to today was the longest week of my entire life,” Neely said. “We’ve been here four times and I thought this was a game we were supposed to win, but that puts an extra level of pressure. Credit to our guys, to be back here after last year and all the guys we lost. I’m just ecstatic and in disbelief.”

Ahead 46-37 with 6:03 to play, Franklin appeared in command but the Tigers behind superstar Teagan Swint (24 points) made a late surge. Swint scored six consecutive points to trim the deficit to three. With Franklin ahead by just two, 48-46, Sullivan provided some cushion with a fall-away in the paint and then a tip-in to give Franklin a six-point edge with 1:40 left. Swint came right back, driving to the hoop and then coming through with a steal and two-handed slam to make it 52-50 with 28 seconds to go.

Two Swint free throws trimmed the Franklin lead to one, 53-52, with 7 seconds to go leading to the Tigers fouling Sullivan and sending him to the line. With over 2,000 fans in the crowd, Sullivan remained poised, drilling both at the charity stripe. At the other end, Nicky Spinelli back rimmed a three-pointer as time expired, sending the Panthers into a frenzy.

The two sides traded first-half blows with Swint drilling a pull-up at the buzzer to tie the game at 17 after one. Sullivan looked to give Franklin separation in the second with his lone three of the game to go with a Wyatt Herndon three-pointer, but Mathaios Stamm and Spinelli each drilled treys to keep the Tigers within a 28-25 deficit going into halftime.