BIO: Ian Crosswhite was born in Melbourne (VIC) Crosswhite received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 2000. He spent two years year there and played for the program’s state league team (2000, 2001).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Ian Crosswhite made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 22 years of age. He scored two points in his first game.

In 2005/06, Crosswhite averaged 6.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists as the Kings finished in first place with a record of 26-6.

2006/07
In 2006/07, Crosswhite averaged 7.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists, playing a key role in the King’s rotation, helping the team finish reach a fourth place finish in the regular season with a 20-13 record.

2007/08
The Kings had been drifting further and further away from the championship since completing a three-peat in 2005. A grand final loss in 2006, a semi-final exit in 2005 and losing veteran Brad Sheridan to retirement and their second-leading scorer David Barlow prompted Sydney to re-tool their roster. The Kings would start by making a huge offer to Illawarra Hawks star Glen Saville, one which he couldn’t refuse. Imports Jerome Beasley and Ed Scott were replaced with Dontaye Draper and Isiah Victor and the Kings started the season off on fire.

Sydney won their first five games until they suffered a upset loss to rival club West Sydney, but backed this up by winning the next seven games in a row.

Crosswhite averaged 8.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists alongside Mark Worthington (17.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals) who delivered his best season to date, leading the Kings in both scoring and rebounds. Draper (13.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals), who led the team in assists and steals, provided the leadership needed at the point as the Kings delivered a balanced attack with six players averaging double figures, including Jason Smith (12.9 ppg), Luke Kendall (11.3 ppg), Victor (10.8 ppg) and Saville (10.6 ppg).

The Kings would finish the regular season with a 27-3 record, losing only one home game all season and ending the season on a eight game winning streak. Sydney clinched top spot on the ladder (five games ahead of Melbourne) after winning their last eight games of the season. With the league’s top eight team’s advancing to the playoffs, Sydney and Melbourne (22-8), would automatically advance to the semi finals. There they would face Perth and Brisbane respectively. Sydney would defeat Perth in three games, while Melbourne eliminated Brisbane to face each other in the best-of-five Grand Final series.

Worthington would erupt for 35 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in game one in front of the home crowd, with the Kings convincingly winning Game one, 95-74. The key to the victory being the defensive efforts from Ian Crosswhite (11 points, 9 rebounds), Russell Hinder (4 points, 3 rebounds and Worthington, who held NBL MVP Chris Anstey to a mere 12 points

game two shifted to Melbourne and behind former King David Barlow (24 points), Sean Lampley (21 points) and a resurgent Anstey (21 points and 9 rebounds) the Tigers defeated Sydney 104-93.

game three saw Melbourne survive a fierce final quarter comeback behind a 89-87 victory, witnessed by 6,009 Kings fans at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Melbourne had allowed a 78-66 three-quarter-time lead to disappear by the fourth quarter, where they trailed by four points with just under four minutes to play. However, they outscored Sydney 7-1 in the game’s remaining moments, which saw import forward Sean Lampley clinching the game with a three-pointer to make it 89-87 victory with just 12 seconds remaining. With Sydney unable to respond, Anstey finished with 27 points and 15 rebounds for the Tigers, while Kings star Mark Worthington top-scored again for Sydney with 22 points.

The Kings made sure the same result wouldn’t happen in game four, thanks to inspired performances by injured guard Dontaye Draper (8 points, 4 assists and 2 steals) and forward Isiah Victor (23 points, 9 rebounds), the Sydney Kings came back from the dead to extend the series to a fifth game. To win, the Kings staged the biggest last-quarter comeback ever in a NBL Grand Final, trailing by as much as 18 points (72-54) late in the third quarter. Draper, who was not expected to play because of a hamstring injury, sat on the bench for almost all of the first three quarters. But, after coming on late in the third term, he scored eight points in the final quarter, including two crucial three-pointers, to help lift his side to a 90-87 victory, culminating with Kings coach Brian Goorjian running laps around our court with a clenched fist. Isiah Victor led the Kings with 23 points and 9 rebounds, while Chris Anstey led the Tigers, recording his second-highest score of the season, adding 33 points and eight rebounds in the losing effort.

Many expected the Tigers to roll over after the emotional game four loss, especially with game five being played a mere 48 hours later. The game was played in front of a sellout crowd of 10,244 (the King’s first sellout since 2003), and although Sydney finished the first quarter in front, the Tigers outscored them (28-19) in the second and at the end of the third, the Tigers held a 61-63 lead. In the series thus far, Sydney had outscored Melbourne 97-59 in the four previous fourth quarters, but with Tigers duo Chris Anstey and Dave Thomas both delivering 21 point games, Melbourne rebounded to defeat Sydney 85-73. Anstey, who had averaged 22.8 points and 10.4 rebounds over the five games, was fittingly named Finals MVP and in doing so, became only the second player ever (Sam MacKinnon had achieved the feat in 2007) to win a NBL championship, the season MVP, Grand Final MVP and Best Defensive Player all in the same season.

Mark Worthington led the Kings with 17 points while Jason Smith and Luke Kendall both finished with 7 points each, unable to get the types of shots they generally made.

On 24 March 2008, coach Brian Goorjian quit the club after a mutual agreement, and on 12 June 2008, the NBL terminated the Sydney team’s licence as Firepower collapsed and the Kings were unable to pay player salaries. Crosswhite would appear in 37 games, averaging 8.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists.

CAIRNS TAIPANS
2008/09
This was a dark period for Cairns started the season in financial strife and by December 2008, saw themselves placed into voluntary administration. As a result, coach Alan Black and son Stephen Black (the team’s leading scorer) were let go, along with imports Larry Abney (15.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks) and Dave Thomas (11.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.5 steals). The rest of the team had to agree to a blanket 45 percent pay cut for the rest of the season. Less than 12 months later, the Taipans were again in financial trouble – at the time, the club was almost $350,000 over budget and had only recorded a profit in one of the previous four months.

In response, Basketball Australia and Cairns Regional Council vowed to continue supporting the cash-strapped Taipans.

Taipans CEO Mark Beecroft stepped in as head coach for the remaining games, while Crosswhite finished the season with averages of 11 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. Team captain Martin Cattalini (15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists) led the team that remained against all the odds, and surprisingly, Cairns finished with a reasonable record of 11-19 to end the season.

2009/10
During the 2009/10 season, Crosswhite averaged 7.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists and was a part of the Taipans squad which finished in a seventh place with a record of 11-17.

2010/11
After finishing one loss away from the wooden spoon in 2010, the Taipans underwent a major rehaul of their roster. While the core group of Ian Crosswhite, Dusty Rychart, Aaron Grabau and captain Phill Jones remained, Cairns replaced the rest of last year’s roster. Alex Loughton, the team’s major signing, returned to Australia after a season spent in Spain. Daniel Dillon, who had spent the past season in the state league, signed on as the Snake’s backup point guard, and imports Ayinde Ubaka and Ron Dorsey replaced Julien Mills and Rich Melzer.

After a modest start to the season, starting with one win from the first three games of the season, the Taipans became the surprise packed of the year. The team won five in a row and jumped from 7th place in round three to 2nd place by round nine.

A well-balanced attack from Cairns saw Ubaka (13.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists), Dorsey (13.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists), Loughton (11.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists) and Crosswhite (11.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists) all score in double figures.

The Taipans finished the season on a four-game winning streak and in third place (16–12).

The semi finals saw them lose to Townsville in the opening game of the series before winning games two and three to advance through to the Grand Final series for the first time in franchise history.

Matching up against the New Zealand Breakers, Cairns suffered a thrashing in the series opener, going down 85–67 in Auckland.

Returning to Cairns for Game 2, the Taipans looked set for a three-point win in regulation before a three-pointer from Breakers guard CJ Bruton in the dying seconds sent the match into overtime. However, not to be outdone, five minutes later, Dorsey returned the favour, wiping out the Breakers’ three-point lead with a miraculous long-range buzzer beater, which forced the match into double overtime (It marked the first time in NBL history a play-off match was decided in double overtime)

With momentum now on their side, the Taipans took home a nail-biting 85–81 double-overtime win which sent the series back to New Zealand for a deciding third game.

The Taipans lacked the same spark In game three, with import pair Ubaka and Dorsey shooting 4-of-26 between them and the Breakers winning comfortably, 71–53.

Crosswhite averaged 11.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists across 34 games for the season.

2011/12
In 2011/12, Crosswhite averaged 7.5 points and 7.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists, as the Taipans finished in fifth place with a 15-13 record.

SYDNEY KINGS
2012/13
Having taken over the head coaching reigns mid-season the year before, Shane Heal set to work on helping the Kings return to the NBL playoffs for the first time since returning to the league in 2010. Heal began the season with some big roster holes to fill after losing both the leagues leading rebounder, Julian Khazzouh, Rookie of the Year Anatoly Bose and talented import Jerai Grant to European opportunities.

Heal would convince Former King Crosswhite to return (via Cairns) and fill the shoes of Khazzouh, high-scoring shooting guard James Harvey (via Gold Coast) to cover the loss of Bose and recruit diminutive point guard Corin Henry and Darnell Lazare as the team’s import duo. Sydney was also bolstered by the return of Aaron Bruce, who had missed the second half of last season due to a tibia injury.

After losing to Illawarra in the opening game of the season (76–79), the team delivered a strong start to the season, and by the time of the league’s All-Star break, Sydney (9-5) was sitting in third place on the ladder.

The Kings’ second half of the season wasn’t as successful, managing just three wins from their remaining 14 games. Due to the dominance of the New Zealand Breakers (24-4) and Perth Wildcats (22-6), every other team in the NBL finished the season with a losing record. Thus, in unusual fashion, despite having a losing record, the Kings finished in fourth place and returned to the playoffs for the first time since returning to the league in 2010.

Once into the semi finals, the Kings were outclassed by the Breakers, who claimed game one in New Zealand (81-64) before closing out the series with a win on Sydney’s home floor (99-88). New Zealand would then defeat Perth in two games to become NBL Champions.

Sydney owed much of its success to a breakout season from Ben Madgen (18.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists), who led the league in scoring, was awarded the league’s Most Improved Player award and named in the All-NBL first team. Ian Crosswhite (10.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists) was named in the All-NBL third team and announced his retirement shortly after.

Ian Crosswhite played eight seasons in the NBL. He averaged 8.9 points, 6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 241 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (815 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.