BIO: Andrew Howey was born in Balmoral (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Bulleen basketball program.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Andrew Howey made his NBL debut with the North Melbourne Giants at 24 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Since 1986, the Giants had slowly crept closer and closer to winning their first NBL championship, with it all culminating this season. After missing the playoffs in 1986, Bruce Palmer replaced Les Riddle as coach and turned things around, coming within one game of winning the championship and come 1989, it was all business. The team added Cecil Exum and Ray Borner to the team’s frontcourt to backup Scott Fisher (32.1 points and 12.7 rebounds) and Tim Dillon (29.4 points and 10.0 rebounds), who again delivered two of the best statistical seasons in NBL history and Howey added 1.9 points and 1.3 rebounds as the team finished second in the regular season (17-7).

The reigning NBL champions, the Canberra Cannons—who had defeated the Giants in the previous year’s Grand Final—finished the regular season atop the ladder with an 18–6 record, one win ahead of the Giants. After both team’s received a first round bye due to finishing in the top two spots the Cannons defeated the Sydney Kings to reach the Grand Final for the fourth time in seven seasons and North Melbourne went on to eliminate the Perth Wildcats in the semifinals. The Giants vs Wildcats series culimnated in the Giants defeating the Wildcats by 55 points win in game 3. With the game’s final score reading 165-110 saw the Giants finish with the highest score ever recorded in a NBL postseason game. A record which still stands today. Howey scored 10 points in the lob-sided victory but would not recieve court time in the Grand Final series.

The Giants went on to win the 1989 NBL Grand Final by winning both games of the series in convincing fashion.

The 1989 title was the first title won by a Victorian team in the modern era. Not since the St Kilda Saints won in 1980 during the League semi-professional years had a Melbourne team won a NBL championship. Fisher, who averaged 35 points and 12 rebounds in the series, was a easy choice for Grand Final MVP honours.

1990
After winning the 1989 NBL championship star import Tim Dillon would return to the USA and was replace by Joe Hillman. While Hillman brought a nice scoring punch to the team, he wasn’t the rebounder or defender that Dillon was and although the team finished the regular season on top of the ladder they were eliminated by eventual champions the Perth Wildcats in the semifinals. Howey averaged 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds.

1991
The North Melbourne Giants had lost star forward Tim Dillon after their 1989 championship and had since failed to find a suitable replacement. For the 1991 season the team added Yale University grad Paul Maley who had played the previous season with the South Melbourne Saints. Howey would average 1.2 points alongside stars Fisher (30.3 points, 12 rebounds) and Maley (27.6 points, 10.2 rebounds) and help lead the Giants to a second place finish for the season. After eliminating the Geelong Supercats in the elimination finals in three games the Giants were defeated in the semifinals by rival club Eastside Melbourne Spectres.

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE MAGIC
1992 – ONE MAGIC YEAR
At the end of 1991, the South Melbourne Saints were unable to continue operations due to financial instability. A landmark merger with the Eastside Melbourne Spectres gave birth to a new franchise—the South East Melbourne Magic. Head coach Brian Goorjian retained control of the team, carrying over the Spectres core of Bruce Bolden, Tony Ronaldson, Darren Lucas, Scott Ninnis, and Darren Perry. Only two players from the Saints—Andrew Parkinson and Andrej Lemanis—were brought across. Howey, who had been playing with North Melbourne, was added as a training player and spent most of the season developing behind the scenes in a stacked Magic frontcourt.

Howey was a part of the South East Melbourne Magic squad which won the 1992 NBL championship, however he would only play in three games during the regular season and did not take the floor in any of their postseason games. He averaged 0.0 points and 1.3 rebounds for the season. The majority of his year was spent in practice sessions, helping push the main rotation and providing depth behind bigs like Bruce Bolden, John Dorge, and Tony Ronaldson.

The Magic were a powerhouse in their debut year, finishing with a 20–4 regular season record, remaining undefeated at home, and steamrolling through the playoffs. After sweeping Canberra and North Melbourne, they met cross-town rivals Melbourne in a three-game Grand Final series. Despite an injury to starting point guard Darren Perry in Game 1, the Magic responded with back-to-back wins to claim the title. While Howey did not appear in the Finals series, he was part of a historic roster that delivered a championship in the franchise’s inaugural season.

Even without seeing meaningful court time, Howey’s inclusion in the championship squad placed him among the few to experience one of the most dominant and cohesive team environments in league history. The experience provided valuable exposure to high-level basketball under Brian Goorjian’s demanding system and within one of the NBL’s most successful cultures.

Andrew Howey played four seasons in the NBL, playing for both the North Melbourne Giants and the South East Melbourne Magic. He averaged 1.5 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 0 assists in 45 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (836 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.