A mini play-by-play of your Blacktown Storm at the 2025 MJL Finals

The two Sundays of July we look forward to every year, the Basketball NSW Metro Junior League (MJL) Finals. Blacktown Storm was well-represented in the 2025 MJL Finals with seven teams making the top four of their respective division. We had at least one team from each age group and four competing in Division One. To say the least, we had a jam-packed couple of Sundays so let’s give you a recap!

20th of July - MJL Semi Finals

The MJL Semi Finals was held across two venues, U12s/14s at Barker College, Hornsby and U16s/18s at Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre.

We had five games at Barker College starting with the U14 Boys Purple team at 9:30am versus the Penrith Panthers. The first half of the game stayed tight with Storm leading, but never more than 10 points. At the half, they were leading 27-23 after two big threes made by Deron Sarsonas. They made the necessary adjustments at halftime and their finals jitters disappeared as they were able to pull away from the Panthers and ultimately get the win, securing them into the Grand Final. Final Score was 52-36. Leading scorers were Bastien Milicevic and Deron Sarsonas with 14 and 12 respectively.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Sydney, the U16 Boys Purple team were getting ready for their semi-final against the number one seeded Sydney Comets. The Comets had only lost one game during the Regular Season so the boys had a big challenge coming to them. In the first half, the teams were going bucket for bucket and keeping the game close, Storm led at the half 44-40. In the third quarter, the Boys were able to pull away and get a comfortable lead behind Riaz Nejah’s 17 point quarter. The dominance continued into the fourth quarter and the boys were able to overcome the number one seed with a 109-92 win. Leading Scorer, Riaz Nejah with a crazy 40 point game.

On the next court at Penrith were the U18 Boys, who happen to also be versing the Sydney Comets. The game stayed close till the second quarter where Comets went on a 10-2 run with two minutes left in the half putting Storm in a 12 point deficit. However, off the back of some turnovers, the boys took advantage and scored five points to end the half and cut the Comets lead to seven. They brought that mini-run energy into the third with a dominant 20-8 quarter to lead by eight going into the fourth. They didn’t let their guard down and kept their lead to win the game 77-70. Leading scorers, Trasel Rone 17 points and Marko Dopudij 16 points.

2pm at Barker College was the Blacktown Storm time slot of the day as we had three games running at the same time. U12 Girls and U12 Boys Purple played side-by-side with the girls against Bankstown Bruins on Court 4 and the boys against Norths Bears on Court 5.

The U12 Girls were hit with the finals nerves (for both teams) with a scoreless first quarter ending at 0-4. The third quarter brought the team back behind Megan Sutch’s six points and the team kept the Bruins to only four points. They continued the strong defensive effort into the fourth quarter bringing the Bruins' lead to just one point in the final two minutes. Unfortunately, the ball did not fall in our favour and the team fell short to the Bruins, 19-23. Leading scorer was Arleen Manak with seven points.

The U12 Boys Purple came out ready with a 12-0 run to start the game. The Bears made some adjustments and crawled their way back within three going into the second half. This was too close for Coach Greg to handle so the Boys came out storming in the third extending their lead to 11 in the first five minutes. They held the lead going into the fourth and comfortably closed out the game winning over the Bears 53-41. Leading scorers Mayen Kuol, 12 points and Daven Jambalos, 11 points.

After some delays, the U14 Girls Purple game against the Inner West Bulls kicked off on the main court at Barker. Another nervous start in this game as the girls are held to only two points for the first four minutes. A three-pointer by Leala Chen broke the scoring drought but the team found themselves in a seven point deficit to end the first quarter. Kaya Kumar got in her groove in the second, scoring eight of the ten Storm points and taking the lead from Bulls 17-15 going into the second half. It was a neck and neck game with Storm leading by just one point going into the fourth. The Girls held their ground and pulled away from the Bulls scoring the first seven points in the final quarter. However, the Bulls did not give up, going on a six to two run to bring our lead down. The Girls stayed resilient, did not let the run rattle them and won the game 41-39. Leading scorer, Kaya Kumar with 25 points.

Finally, came our last game of the day, the U14 Boys Gold versing the St George Saints tipping at 3:30pm at Barker. It was a tight game to start with the score tied after one. The Boys found themselves behind by five going into the half. The Saints kept chipping away at it and eventually pulled away and led by 11 midway through the third quarter. The Storm Boys were able to bring the deficit down to nine going into the final quarter. The team kept at it and took the lead with three minutes left. The final minutes were intense, the game stayed close and it looked like anyone’s game. The Boys had a chance to go up by one in the final seconds with a backdoor cut floater but the ball bounced around the rim and out. With three seconds left in the game, down by two, the team had a chance to tie or win the game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough time and the U14 Boys Gold fell to the Saints, 64-62. Leading scorers, Alexander La with 18 points.

We ended the day with FIVE teams in the Grand Finals and two very close losses.

27th of July - MJL Grand Finals

Five teams in the Grand Final meant there was going to be a massive day ahead! This season the Grand Finals were held at Bankstown Basketball Stadium (U12s/14s) and Sutherland Basketball Stadium (U16s/18s).

The day started early at Bankstown with our first game at 8am. The U12 Boys Purple team had the honour of opening the Grand Finals against the Marrickville Spirit. In typical Grand Final spirit (no pun intended), the energy was high and the crowd was loud - even for 8am in the morning. Similar to their Semi-Final, the Boys had a strong start going on a 12-6 run. Spirit stayed in it for the first quarter but Storm started to pull away in the second with a 24 point second quarter to lead by 15 at the half. That massive quarter gave Spirit a big task at hand but they did not give up. As our offence started to slow down, Spirit found ways to score. Midway through the fourth, our 19 point lead in the beginning of the quarter fell to 12 points. Coach Greg called a timeout to get the boys back in the game. The team understood their defensive assignment until the final buzzer, winning the game and the U12B Division Three championship, 66-54. Congrats to the whole team and a special congrats to Finals MVP, Lucas Cuento-Reynoso.

9:30am tipped off our second game at Bankstown, the U14 Boys Purple vs the Sydney Comets. The Comets set the tone early with a 2-9 run to start the game. The Boys stormed back going on their own run bringing the Comets lead to only one going into the second quarter. Mateo Martinez started off the second with back to back buckets to give Storm our first lead. From there, the game stayed close until the Comets went for six straight points to end the half. Comets’ hot streak continued into the second half where our boys could not find a way to stop them. The Comets’ lead ballooned to 19 going into the final quarter. In true Storm fashion, they did not give up! The boys started to see the ball go through the basket and the deficit soon felt reachable at 13 points. Despite the strong efforts till the final buzzer, the Boys could not slow down the Comets. The U14 Boys Purple team ended their season as runners-up as they fall to Comets 48-67.

Next game was 11:30am at Sutherland with the U16 Boys Purple versus the West Sydney Wolves for the U16 Boys Division One title. The game started off with the teams trading buckets. Midway through the first, the Storm Boys started to pull away, ending the quarter up 26-21. Ceefah Lemiri was finding his game in the second, scoring seven points to help grow the Storm lead to eight at the half. In the third quarter, Wolves got into a rhythm outscoring our team 17-10. Up one going into the fourth, every play felt important. Every push from the Wolves, the boys were able to combat with fast-breaks and finding cutters. Storm led 67-59 with 2:30 left in the game. Wolves came back with a three that started a 10-0 run to put them up two points with 40 seconds left. Ceefah Lemiri tied the game with two made free throws. Layups did not fall and fouls were called, Wolves went up two with two made free throws. One chance to tie the game but a tough layup does not fall. The Boys were forced to foul to get the ball back but the lack of time left, did not give the team another chance. The U16 Boys Purple team ended their season as runners-up with a 69-72 loss to the West Sydney Wolves.

Over at Bankstown, the U14 Girls Purple team started their 12:30pm game against the Sydney Comets. Similar to their Semi-Finals, they started off slow going scoreless in the first five minutes. Kaya Kumar got the team on the board with two points which fired them up to their own 8-0 run to tie the game. It was a game of runs as the Comets started the second strong to bring their lead back to 10 points, just for the Storm Girls to finish the quarter stronger and be within three points going into the second half. Comets continued to set the pace to begin quarters as they again pushed their lead to double digits. This did not slow down the Girls. Four quick points to end the third from Storm started the comeback. The team crawled their way back into the game. They fought through contact to get them to the line and all of a sudden the Comets’ lead was only three points. Kaya Kumar dominated the last minutes, scoring a massive three to get the team their first lead of the game. The Comets hit back with a three on their own. In the tie game, we foul the Comets and they make a free throw to go up one. A quick inbound and perfect passes down the court, the ball ends up in Kaya’s hands and she takes it to the hoop and makes the big shot to put Storm up by one with 16 seconds left. Julia Ramos and Harlie Em make a clutch free throw each. Buzzer. Game. Your Blacktown Storm are U14 Girls Division One Champions! The FIRST Girls Division One championship to Blacktown Storm’s name. Congrats to the whole team! A massive congratulations to Kaya Kumar, the Finals MVP!

Our last game of the day was back at Sutherland with the U18 Boys versus the Marrickville Spirit. The Spirit team have been undefeated all season but it was a challenge the Boys were up for. A solid start to the game by the team as they stormed in with a 15-4 run in the first 6 minutes of the game. Spirit did not get rattled and went on their own run to bring our lead back to three at the end of the first. A similar story in the second quarter as the Boys start strong but Spirit finds a way to come back ending the period 35-34. Storm continued to hold their lead midway through the third quarter before a free throw by Spirit tied the game which started a run by them to bring the score to 42-51. The team did not let the run get to them and ended the quarter strong to bring the deficit to six points. Unfortunately, they could not overcome the Spirit and fell short in the end 62-72. The U18 Boys team ended their season as runners-up. Well done to the whole team on their season.

Congratulations to all our teams, what an amazing accomplishment to be in the finals. We could not be prouder of the season that all 14 teams had. Thank you to everyone that was involved season! Let’s do it all again in 2026!