BIO: Brandon Ashley was born in Oakland, California (USA). Ashley attended Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, California before transferring to Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada for his senior season. He averaged 15.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game as a senior, and led Findlay to a 32-1 record and a ESPN NHSI national title.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Brandon Ashley made his NBL debut with the New Zealand Breakers at 25 years of age. He scored four points in his first game.

In 2019/20, Ashley averaged 10.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 0.8 assists as the Breakers finished in sixth place (15-13).

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX
2021/22
After making their maiden Finals appearance the year prior, South East Melbourne looked to go one step further. The Phoenix’s first move was re-signing coach Simon Mitchell (one year deal), who then went about retaining the majority of the team’s local core, locking in Kyle Adnam, Ryan Broekhoff, Izayah Le’Afa and Mitch Creek re-signing.

Although both Keifer Sykes (to NBA) and Yanni Wetzell (to New Zealand) would exit the club, they would be replaced by Tohi Smith-Milner (via Melbourne), Zhou Qi, a member of the Chinese national team and imports Zach Hankins and Xavier Munford.

South East Melbourne started the season on fire, winning three of its first four games, with Qi (11.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks) making it extremely difficult for opposing team’s to score inside and Munford (16.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.3 steals) proving to be a more than adequate replacement for Sykes.

The combination of a short-term injury to Qi and Hankins yet to play a game due to a knee cartilage injury resulted in coach Simon Mitchell bringing in import Brandon Ashley (8.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 0.7 assists) as a replacement for Hankins.

The Phoenix had no problems scoring this year, with Mitch Creek (20.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.1 steals) leading the team in scoring and South East Melbourne finishing in the top three highest-scoring team’s in the league (87.7 points per game).

Then, due to COVID interruptions, several of their games had to be postponed, forcing the team into a 28 day hiatus where they were unable to play a single game, leaving them a little bit rusty, to say the least, and they were blown out by Brisbane (84-100) in their first game back.

It wouldn’t take long for South East Melbourne to return to their previous form however, winning eight of their next eleven games to sit second on the ladder (11-5) around the halfway mark of the season.

South East Melbourne saw their season backflip from here on, going on a four-game losing streak, losing to the Hawks twice, the Kings and United. The downfall of South East Melbourne coincided with the season-ending shoulder injury of Ryan Broekhoff (11.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.6 steals), but even with a favourable schedule across the last month of the season, the Phoenix still struggled to get wins, suffering defeats by Adelaide, Cairns, and Melbourne which ended South East Melbourne’s chances of reaching the playoffs.

It was a disappointing second half of the season for the Phoenix, as they managed to win only six out of their last 14 games, the only high point being a overtime win over Perth (102-100) that ended the Wildcat’s 35-year playoff streak.

Brandon Ashley played two seasons in the NBL, playing for both the New Zealand Breakers and the South East Melbourne Phoenix. He averaged 9.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 51 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (811 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.