BIO: Ben Ayre was born and raised in Melbourne (VIC), where he attended De La Salle College and began playing basketball as a junior with the Sandringham Sabres basketball team. At 19 Ayre moved to the United States to attend Skagit Valley College in 2015.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Ben Ayre made his NBL debut with the Adelaide 36ers at 23 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

In August 2019, Ayre signed with the Adelaide 36ers as a development player. He appeared in only two games for the 36ers during the 2019/20 NBL season.

Ayre was unable to sign with a NBL team in 2020 and instead signed to play in Lithuania.

CAIRNS TAIPANS
2021/22
Ben joined the Taipans originally as a unpaid training player after former 36ers coach Joey Wright recommended him to then coach Mike Kelly. In a season marred by injuries, where Cairns finished the season having never fielded their full roster in any game that season, Ayre was able to make the most of the situation being elevated into the roster on 1 April 2022 as an injury replacement.

On 18 April 2022, in just his sixth appearance for the club, Ayre played his best game, recording a double-double, scoring 20 points, 10 assists, four rebounds, and three steals. This also included four 3-pointers in the team’s 92–80 loss to Melbourne United. He became just the third player in 2021/22 to record 20 points and 10 assists in a game alongside Bryce Cotton and Jaylen Adams.

OK, BEN AYRE.
–
– 2⃣0⃣ PTS
– 4⃣ 3PT
– 4⃣ REB
– 1⃣0⃣ AST
– 3⃣ STL#NBL22 pic.twitter.com/bkOYmEG4W6

— The NBL (@NBL) April 19, 2022

2022/23
Ben Ayre secured his first NBL contract, signing a two-year deal (second year club option) following a memorable stint as an injury replacement and a outstanding campaign with the Taipans’ feeder team in the off-season. At the end of the season the option on Ben Ayre’s contract was not taken up by the Taipans.

Adam Forde’s first season as head coach didn’t yield much on-court success, with the Taipans finishing in last place, but it did build a solid foundation that resulted in Cairns having one of their most successful seasons ever in NBL23. The club brought back leading scorer Tahjere McCall, Majok Deng, Bul Kuol, Mirko Djeric, as well as the league’s Most Improved Player Keanu Pinder.

Major departures included Kouat Noi (to Sydney) and Nathan Jawai, who, despite wanting to play another season, was not by the team or any other NBL team. Forde then replenished his roster, first signing promising big man Sam Waardenburg (3 Year Deal), who was hotly pursued by most NBL team’s yet chose to sign in Cairns after being offered a starting role. Fellow college grad Lat Mayen (Nebraska) and Jonah Antonio (Czech League) signed multi-year deals, and Ayre, who had delivered a memorable stint as an injury replacement player the season prior, was elevated to the main roster. Imports Scott Machado and Stephen Zimmerman were replaced with DJ Hogg and Shannon Scott, and Cairns, with the youngest roster in the league, surprised everyone with some upset wins to start the season.

Picked by most to finish bottom of the ladder, Cairns opened the season by defeating grand finalists Tasmania (106-84), South East Melbourne (85-76) and the reigning champions Sydney (83-78) to start the season on a 5-1 run, their only loss being to Perth (76-105).

Other notable games for the season included defeating Melbourne United twice. The first encounter saw Cairns outscore Melbourne 11-1 in the final four minutes to take home a 81-77 win that propelled them into second place on the ladder and saw Forde call Pinder (26 points and 10 rebounds) the best centre in the league after the game. The second was a 25-point belting where after the Taipans led by as much as 40 points in the final quarter, they secured a 97-72 victory, their first victory at home this season. Pinder recorded his fourth double-double of the year with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Kuol added 18 points, Hogg had 17, and Ayre scored 16 off the bench.

A common Taipans’ trait this season was snapping opposition win streaks. This included snapping Brisbane’s three-game win streak in November (90-82) and ending the Kings’ record 17-game road winning streak (94-88) in a overtime thriller.

The Taipans, who had spent the majority of the season sitting in second or third position on the ladder, then lost star Keanu Pinder to a ankle injury in December. Many in the media expected the team to drop down the ladder without Pinder, where they were originally predicted to finish, but instead, Cairns went on a five-game winning streak. This included wins over Adelaide 36ers (86-83), Illawarra (96-89), Brisbane (107-81), South East Melbourne (94-85), a second win over Illawarra (89-84) and New Zealand (85-83).

During the final month of the season, Cairns lost Pinder again, this time to a eye injury which resulted in him being unable to play any postseason games. Cairns and Zealand bounced back and forth in a battle for second place across the final fortnight of the games, finishing the season off by defeating Perth (84-71). The win momentarily saw Cairns jump to second place before New Zealand responded with wins over both Brisbane and Illawarra (the competition’s bottom two), resulting in both team’s finishing with a equal record (18-10). Due to the Breakers having a higher percentage, Cairns then dropped to third place and would have to go through the NBL’s inaugural play-in tournament to reach the semi finals. Next, Cairns would face Perth with Pinder still on the sidelines. Despite this, a history making effort from DJ Hogg (32 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assist), where he score the most points ever by a Taipan in a playoff game, delivered a 91-78 victory and the chance to face Sydney as the fourth seed in the semifinals.

McCall suffered a partially dislocated shoulder in the Taipans’ Seeding Qualifier against Tasmania and, as a result, was absent from game one of his side’s Playoff Series against Sydney. Without McCall available, Xavier Cooks (27 points and 14 rebounds) was able to power the Kings home to a 95-87 win over the Taipans in the opening game before a drama-filled game two saw Kings’ coach Buford being ejected. The emotions tipped over after Noi and Waardenburg both went down after hits to the head, Cooks suffered yet another ankle injury, and Tim Soares was charged with striking. Amidst the chaos, DJ Hogg (25 points and 8 rebounds) and Tahjere McCall (20 points and 7 assists) caught fire, and Cairns took down Sydney (93-82) to force a do-or-die game three.

In the deciding game, Vasiljevic, who had been almost a non-factor in the first two games, delivered when it mattered most for the Kings landing three crucial three-pointers on his way to 15 points and five rebounds to lead Sydney in scoring. Cooks shook off his rolled ankle from game two with 11 points and 11 rebounds as the Kings locked the Taipans down on defence, holding them to their lowest team score of the season, Sydney beating Cairns 79-64 to advance to the Championship Series. Ben Ayre finished top scorer for the Taipans with 20 points (4-8 from downtown) and 4 assists.

Hogg (18.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists 1.2 steals, 1.2 blocks) would led the Taipans in scoring and alongside Pinder (16.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.3 steals) was named to the All-NBL Second Team. Pinder also made history by winning the Most Improved Player award, becoming the first player ever to win the award twice. Rookie Sam Waardenburg (11.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists) collected the league’s Next Generation Award, which replaced the Rookie of the Year award that season.

Ayre would appear 32 games over the course of the season, averaging 5.8 points, 1 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game.

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX
2023/24
Melbourne born Ayre returned to his home state in 2023, signing a two year deal with the Phoenix after a breakout year with the Cairns Taipans in NBL23.

“I made the decision to sign with South East because of the vision Mike (Kelly) has for this ball club and the opportunity I have to grow with this group,” said Ayre on signing with the Phoenix.

“Representing my hometown is something special and I look forward to giving my all every night for this crowd.”

, in what was a inconsistent season for Adelaide. On the cusp of the playoffs, the 36ers would lose their last two games of the season (to Melbourne and Perth) and finish with a 14-14 record and equal with Brisbane. With Brisbane having the higher points percentage, the Bullets advanced into the playoffs as the fourth seed while Adelaide’s season would come to a end, finishing in fifth spot.

—-
, in what was a inconsistent season for Adelaide. On the cusp of the playoffs, the 36ers would lose their last two games of the season (to Melbourne and Perth) and finish with a 14-14 record and equal with Brisbane. With Brisbane having the higher points percentage, the Bullets advanced into the playoffs as the fourth seed while Adelaide’s season would come to a end, finishing in fifth spot.

Ben Ayre currently plays for the South East Melbourne Phoenix and has played 69 games in his NBL career. He has averaged 7.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 2 assists since entering the league in 2019.

CURRENT CONTRACT:

South East Melbourne Phoenix – 2 Year Deal (2023-25)

Dan Boyce (802 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.