BIO: BJ Anthony was born in Auckland (NZ) where he attended Avondale College.

Anthony holds a British passport thanks to his English-born mother.

FAMILY: Anthony’s father, Benny Sr., is a former player and coach in the New Zealand NBL.

NBL EXPERIENCE

BJ Anthony made his NBL debut with the New Zealand Breakers at 22 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

In the 2010/11 season Anthony signed with the New Zealand Breakers as a development player. He joined a Breakers squad of the eve of success with both Kevin Braswell and Mika Vukona returning to the club. Braswell initially decided to play the 2010/11 season with Turkish team Aliağa Belediyesi SK but before the season could start, left the team to play a second season with the New Zealand Breakers. Vukona, who had won a championship with the South Dragons in 2009, returned to the team and replaced Paul Henare as team captain. Another key move saw declining import Rick Rickert replaced with former Utah State University standout Gary Wilkinson.

The season began with Kirk Penney missing the start of the season while he attempted to earn a NBA contract. Failing to do that, he re-joined the Breakers after the season’s first month. Despite missing Penney, the Breakers won their first five games of the season before losing to the Wildcat’s in Perth (114–74).

Kirk Penney (20.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists) would finish as the team’s leading scorer, with the Breakers finishing the regular season on top of the ladder (22–6). Wilkinson (15.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists), CJ Bruton (11.0 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists), Thomas Abercrombie (10.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) and Vukona (8.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists) rounded out New Zealand’s starting lineup, while Braswell (10.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists) add a spark from the bench, a role that would see him selected the NBL’s Best Sixth Man at the end of the year.

This season was also notable for the impact of 22-year-old Corey Webster (4.0 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists), who was elevated into the Breakers’ full-time roster this season and started to steal time away from legendary point guard CJ Bruton this season. Bruton played seven minutes less than the season prior, a testament to New Zealand much improved, much deeper roster.

New Zealand met fourth seed Perth in the semifinals and lost the opening game to the Wildcat’s at home. The Breakers returned to New Zealand for games two and three and recovered by winning both games, qualifying for their first-ever NBL Grand Final.

There, the Breakers met Cairns in the championship series and coasting to a easy win in game one (85–67) after leading by as much as 31 in the third quarter. The team’s then fought out a gripping game two in Cairns, which saw the game tied at the end of regulation (60-60) and at the end of the first overtime (73–73), before Cairns prevailed (85–81), sending the series to a third and deciding game.

With the final game played back on New Zealand soil, the Breakers recorded a comfortable win (71–53) and became the first team non-Australian team to win a NBL championship.

Thomas Abercrombie collected Grand Final MVP honours and while Bruton etched his name into Breakers folklore after he nailed two three-pointers in the fourth quarter to seal the game against the Cairns Taipans, winning his fourth NBL title.

Anthony appeared in 15 games as a development player and averaged 3.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.3 assists.

2011/12
The following season the Breakers upgraded Anthony contract from development player to a member of the full roster. After winning their first NBL championship, the Breakers suffered two major losses, the first being leading scorer Kirk Penney’s decision to play in Europe and a offseason Achilles injury to Kevin Braswell that saw him still unable to play at the beginning of the 2011/12 season. Coach Andrej Lemanis would replace him with Cedric Jackson and then finalised their roster by adding Daryl Corletto, who the Melbourne Tigers had just released to make room for NBA star Patty Mills.

Jackson (12.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and 2.2 steals) would lead the league in both assists and steals and ensure the Breakers didn’t skip a beat as the defending champs. Gary Wilkinson (16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) and Thomas Abercrombie (15.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) both boosting their offensive output in the absence of Penney, propelling New Zealand to a first-place finish (21-7) for the second consecutive season.

New Zealand would meet Townsville in the semifinals where they would lose the opening contest (82-99) behind big games from Crocodiles stars Peter Crawford (26 points) and Eddie Gill (21 points and 4 steals).

The Breakers re-grouped with CJ Bruton (18 points) top scoring in a game two win (94-83) that saw five New Zealand players all score in double figures. Bruton (20 points) continued to lead the way offensively in game three (97-80), winning the series for New Zealand and propelling them into the Grand Final.

New Zealand would go on to face Perth, winning the opening game in a overtime victory at home (104–98). Bruton (20 points and 3 assists) and Jackson (25 points and 8 assists) finished as the Breaker’s top scorers.

Despite Wilkinson (28 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists) delivering his best game of the season, the Wildcats would rebound from the loss and claim a narrow victory in their second meeting (87-86). Jesse Wagstaff (15 points) and Kevin Lisch (15 points and 5 rebounds) led the way for Perth, while six other Wildcats players also scored in double figures. This set up a third game back in Auckland, where the Wildcat’s built up a slight lead in the second quarter through some brilliant play from Matthew Knight (17 points and 6 rebounds), who had 11 points in the quarter. With centre Luke Nevill (4 points and 3 rebounds in 9 mins) getting into foul trouble and the Breakers defence all but neutralising Shawn Redhage (18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists), the Breakers clinched back-to-back titles with a six-point victory (79–73) in front of 9,000 fans.

After Perth levelled the score with seven minutes to go, Abercrombie (12 points and 4 rebounds) pulled in a offensive rebound and set up Bruton (16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals), who nailed a three-point dagger to extend the lead to seven with less than two minutes to play. Gary Wilkinson (23 points) led all scorers, while Alex Pledger (13 points on 4-of-6 shooting) made huge contributions from the bench. The Breakers became the first side to win consecutive titles since Sydney in 2002-2005, a championship team that Bruton was also a part of. Bruton finished 4-of-7 from downtown and was awarded the Larry Sengstock Medal for the Most Valuable Player of the series.

This season, Lemanis was recognised as Coach of the Year, Jackson and Abercrombie were selected to the All-NBL First Team, and Wilkinson gained All-NBL Second Team recognition as well. Anthony appeared in 20 games this season, averaging 2.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.4 assists.

ADELAIDE 36ERS
2013/14
In 2013, the 36ers secured NBL championship-winning coach Joey Wright, who took the team from two consecutive wooden spoons to the Grand Final against the Perth Wildcats. The team retained its core group of Aussie talent, including Daniel Johnson (19.2 points and 6.8 rebounds), who once again led the team in scoring, and rebounding, Adam Gibson, Anthony Petrie and Jason Cadee.

The 36ers also received a boost with Mitchell Creek and Luke Schenscher back on the court after both having their previous campaigns ended prematurely due to injury. Creek overcoming a near career-ending Achilles injury, and Schenscher undergoing elbow surgery. The club also added BJ Anthony (via New Zealand) and 2011 NBL MVP Gary Ervin (via Townsville) to pair with new import Jarrid Frye in the backcourt.

After Round 7 of the season the 36ers, led by Ervin and Johnson, were sitting in second place on the NBL ladder with a 7–2 record, which also included a 5–0 run. This included the 36ers winning both of their games against the Breakers in Auckland, their first wins over the triple defending champions since 2009. Adelaide also took down the undefeated Perth Wildcats (91–86) in front of 6,585 fans at the Adelaide Arena. Perth had been sitting on a 7-0 record prior to that loss in front of the largest Adelaide home crowd since Brett Maher’s last home game in 2009.

By December, Adelaide (9-4) had already eclipsed last season’s eight-win total.

By December, Adelaide (9-4) had already eclipsed last season’s eight-win total.

In February, the 36ers released Jarrid Frye (8.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists) due to underwhelming play and a ankle injury keeping him off the court. With second-placed Adelaide eyeing a Grand Final berth local guard Rhys Carter, who had been playing as a import in Sweden, was signed as his replacement.

The 36ers finished the regular season in second place (18-10), with Anthony appearing in 32 games and contributing 3.6 points, 3 rebounds, and 0.5 assists.

The 36ers would face Melbourne in the semifinals, and with Gary Ervin (27 points and 7 assists) finishing the game high scorer, Adelaide claimed victory in game one (101-85). Game two would be played in Melbourne, where Tigers guard Chris Goulding (37 points) exploded in a game two win for the Tigers (98-87), evening the series (1-1). In game three, Adelaide responded by demolishing Melbourne (102-63), holding them to a 27-point half-time score and winning every quarter by 7 points or more.

The grand final would see second-ranked Adelaide face first-placed Perth with game one held in Perth. Wildcats star import James Ennis (30 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists) would lead Perth in points, rebounds, and assists, resulting in Perth claiming the win (92-85) and taking a 1-0 series lead.

Game two would see 8,127 36ers fans (their largest crowd of the season) rally their team to a 89-84 win behind big games from Gary Ervin (23 points) and Adam Gibson (18 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists) to even the series (1-1).

13,498 of Perth’s ‘red army’ would show up to see the Wildcat’s defeat Adelaide and win their sixth NBL title, with James Ennis subdued by foul trouble Perth’s most experienced duo, Shawn Redhage and Damian Martin were relied on to pick up the slack. Redhage scored 10 of his 16 points in the first term to help his team settle into the contest, while Martin produced a superb defensive effort on 36ers star Gary Ervin, limiting the game two hero to just 4 points while adding 14 points and six rebounds of his own. Greg Hire (9 rebounds, 5 assists) and Jermaine Beal (15 points) provided key contributions of their own to help Perth bury the demons of successive grand final defeats in the past two seasons.

Anthony Petrie (20 points) never stopped trying for the 36ers but lacked support from fellow starters Adam Gibson (8 points) and Daniel Johnson (9 points), both of whom had been influential in the first two games of the series.

Daniel Johnson won his third straight club MVP award and was also named to the All-NBL First Team.

2014/15
The 36ers’ need for more production at the point guard spot saw the exits of Gary Ervin (to Wollongong), Jason Cadee (to Sydney) and Rhys Carter (to Europe) and import guards Jamar Wilson (via Cairns) and Daequon Montreal (via Europe) signed to bolster the backcourt. Young Adelaide forward Brock Motum, a member of the national team, was signed to be the main focal point of the offence.

Wilson (20 points, 5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists) would lead the team in scoring, earning NBL player of the week honours twice over the course of the season. The awards coming his way after a game-high 22 points against Melbourne (Jan 10) and another after racking up a game-high 25 points against Townsville (Feb 1).

Motum (17.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists) led the team in rebounds and Creek (11.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists) delivered a breakout season, becoming the team’s third-leading scorer, increasing his scoring from 7.7 points per game the season prior. Anthony would appear in 18 games and average 5.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 0.3 assists before missing the second half of the season with a Achilles tendon injury.

The 36ers would finish in third place (17-11) before being eliminated in the semifinals by eventual champions New Zealand in two straight games. Wilson’s play would earn him the Mark Davis Trophy (club MVP) and All-NBL second team honours.

BJ Anthony played four seasons in the NBL, playing for both the New Zealand Breakers and the Adelaide 36ers. He averaged 3.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 85 NBL games.

BJ Anthony played four seasons in the NBL, playing for both the New Zealand Breakers and the Adelaide 36ers. He averaged 3.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 85 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.