By Tara Murray
They needed three games to get there, but the Sunbury Jets are through to the Big V men’s division 1 grand final series.
The Jets won game one last week against the Shepparton Gators and at half-time on Saturday night in game two, looked set to move through to the grand final.
A poor third quarter proved costly, with the Jets eventually losing in overtime, 88-87.
They didn’t make the same mistake on Sunday, winning 103-84, to take the series 2-1.
Coach Ryan Addison said it was pretty exciting for the group to make it through to the grand final series.
It’s the first time they’ve been in one since 2009, when they won the title.
“The boys knew it was a while,” Addison said.
“Our record over the last 10 years isn’t great. We’ve tried to change the culture, this is awesome.”
Addison said a poor third quarter was the disappointing element in their loss in game two.
He said they had spoken about it after the game.
“We didn’t play great basketball,” he said.
“Defensively we were really good, but we went away from what we were doing.
“Speaking to the boys, we had our chances.
“It was a really poor third quarter and if we played differently in the third, we didn’t need the extra game.”
Ish Sanders was massive for the Jets with 42 points, having played the whole 45 minutes.
It was no surprise it was Sanders who hit the shot to send the game into overtime in the dying seconds.
“It was one of the toughest shots I’ve seen to tie a game,” Addison said.
“He’s been big all year. He’s a great teammate and potent offensively.
“We ran some screens for him and we knew it would be hard for him to get it, but he found the ball.”
In game three, the Jets slowly built a lead throughout the game to run away to an easy win.
Addison was happy with the performance.
“Today we didn’t have the lapse,” he said.
“We played some really good basketball. We did what we needed to and looked for different options.
“We’ve now got another two weeks.”
Sanders backed up his performance, scoring 33 points. Arthur Trousdell scored 20 points, while Kris Blicavs, Nathan Baker and Joel Jeffrey also scored doubled figures.
The Sunbury Jets face Warrandyte Venom in the best of three grand final series.
The two teams have split their games during the season. Game one is Saturday night at Sunbury’s Boardman Stadium. Game two, and if needed game three, will be held at Warrandyte. Addison said he was hopeful of getting a big crowd at Sunbury this week.
“We play at home first and we would like everyone to get down there,” he said.
