Geelong’s run at the Big V Division One men’s championship has come up an agonising six points short.

After squaring the best-of-three grand final series at 1-1 on Saturday night, Geelong finally succumbed to Sunbury Jets in Game 3, 94-88, on Sunday at The Arena.

It was a brave effort by Geelong to firstly even the series and then take it all the way down to the buzzer of the final quarter of the final game of the season.

Backing up for two games in two days was always going to be tough on the team’s veterans, but they hung in there until they were finally out of time and chances.

``We played as hard as we could, but we just couldn’t get over the hump,’’ Geelong coach Lanard Copeland said. ``I’m proud of my guys for their effort and with a little more luck here or there, we might have been champions.’’

Geelong used up some luck to get the 90-89 win in Game 2 on Saturday night, surviving a missed Sunbury shot at the buzzer to end a game that went through 17 lead changes and 12 ties.

Guard Ben Suchanek (24 points) was brilliant for Geelong, while veteran Paul Hutchison (17 points) stepped up yet again and forward Chris Brown (14 points) had an impact on his return to the line-up.

So it all came down to Game 3, which started promising for Geelong as it went to the half with a 57-51 advantage, but the home team could not keep it up.

With Geelong committing a total of 32 turnovers for the game and Sunbury getting crucial offensive rebounds late in the game, the momentum swung and stayed with the Jets down the stretch.

Guard Keith Harrison (23 points) and veteran big man Seb Loader (16 points, 23 rebounds) did their best to keep Geelong in the game, while Paul Hutchison (14 points), Chris Brown (14 points) and Ben Suchanek (10 points, 10 assists) made contributions.

Sunbury guard Mark Rizza (33 points, 5-8 3pt FG) was the big difference in Game 3 and was rightly names series MVP.