NICKNAME/S: Three-O Keogh

BIO: Damian Keogh was born in Melbourne (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Nunawading basketball program.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Damian Keogh made his NBL debut with the Nunawading Spectres at 18 years of age. He scored two points in his first game.

As a 18 year old rookie, Keogh averaged 3.7 points for the Nunawading Spectres after being elevated from the team’s junior program, to their NBL roster. The Spectres finished with a record of 14-9 that season and in fourth place.

1981
In 1981, Keogh averaged 6.4 points, playing a key role in the Spectres rotation and helping the team finish in fourth place with a 13-9 record.

1982
The 1982 season saw Keogh average 7 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists and continue to improve aas a player. The Spectres finished in third place during the regular season with a 19-7 record.

1983
During the 1983 season Keogh averaged 8.3 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists and helped the Spectres finish with a record of 15-7 and end the regular season in fifth place.

1984
Coach Barry Barnes led the Spectres to a record of 14 wins, 9 losses in 1984 which saw them finish in fourth place in the NBL’s Western Division. Due to the size of the league (the NBL featured 17 team’s at this time), the NBL finals series in 1984 consisted of the elimination-style divisional finals, two semi-final games, and one championship-deciding grand final.

Nunawading would defeat Adelaide, 108–101 in their Elimination Final before losing to Geelong in the Qualifying Finals, 91–115, in the next game.

Keogh delivered a brreak out season this year, averaging 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 7.9 assists alongside Dean Uthoff, who would lead the league in rebounding and average 20.1 points, 18.5 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game.

BANKSTOWN BRUINS
1985
After a breakout season with Nunawading where Keogh averaged 20 points per game he shifted to Bankstown who had offered Keogh a larger paycheck and increased playing time. The transition wasn’t a easy one, Bankstown finished with a record of 6-20 with Keogh unable to replicate his production from the Spectres, averaging 13.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists. At the end of the season, financial reasons saw the Bruins exit the league forcing Keogh to join nearby club, West Sydney.

WEST SYDNEY WESTARS
1986
In 1986, Keogh averaged 15.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists, playing a key role in the Westars rotation, helping the team finish reach a fourth place finish in the regular season with a 5-12record.

1987
The 1987 season saw Keogh average 18.3 points, 4 rebounds, and 6.8 assists and play a key role in helping the Westars to a first place finish in the regular season with a 8-18 record.

SYDNEY KINGS
1988
In 1988, Keogh averaged 14 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists as the Kings finished with a record of 10-14 and in ninth place during the regular season.

1989
In 1989, Keogh averaged 17.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists, playing a key role in the King’s rotation, helping the team finish reach a fifth place finish in the regular season with a 15-9 record.

1990
The 1990 season saw Keogh average 20.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.2 assists and play a key role in helping the Kings to a sixth-place finish during the regular season with a 16-10 record.

1991
During the 1991 season Keogh averaged 16.8 points, 4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists and helped the Kings finish with a record of 14-12 and end the regular season in seventh place.

1992
During the 1992 season, Keogh averaged 14.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 7.2 assists and was a part of the Kings squad which finished in second place with a record of 17-7 .

1993
In 1993 Keogh averaged 10.7 points and 4 rebounds, and helped guide the Kings to a first place finish in the regular season with a 11-15 record.

1994
After three seasons of import duo Dwayne McClain and Ken McClary, Kings coach Bob Turner chose to go in a different direction in 1994. With rumours of McClain’s rise in popularity leading to difficulties in coaching the star, the decision was made not to re-sign McLain and McClary and find younger talent to replace them. Coach Bob Turner signed swingman Mario Donaldson, who he spotted playing with Omaha during the 1993 CBA championship season.

He paired Donaldson with a relatively unknown forward, Leon Trimmingham, who had played at Briar Cliff University and was recommended to Turner by former Hobart coach Dr David Atkins.

The majority of the remaining roster was retained, with the only major loss being Tony De Ambrosis (to Gold Coast), who was replaced with young guns Neil Turner and Brad Williams.

Sydney came out on fire to start the season. With Trimmingham, whose nightly pyrotechnics drew crowds to the Kingdome like moths to a flame, leading the team in scoring and Donaldson’s deadly outside scoring and lockdown defence, Sydney defeated South East Melbourne Magic on opening night and won three games in a row before losing their first game of the season in Perth.

At the halfway mark (8-3), the Kings looked like a title contender, but the lack of experience amongst the roster started to show, and Sydney went 8-7 for the remainder of the year and narrowly scraped into the playoffs in seventh place (16-10).

The Kings would face the second-placed North Melbourne Giants in the first round of the playoffs, entering the series as decided underdogs, especially given that North Melbourne had whipped them in two regular-season meetings. However, in Game One of the series, the Kings had other ideas. In front of a disbelieving Monday night crowd of 9,092, Sydney rocketed out of the blocks, taking advantage of some fatigue from the Giants, who were playing their third road game in four days. But the home team showed no mercy, hitting one long bomb after another, going on a 11-0 run in the first 71 seconds. At the end of the first period, the Kings were up 43-25 and the Giants simply didn’t know what had hit them. The Kings kept firing away from the outside and kept knocking them down, and by halftime, the game was over. The Kings received a standing ovation as they returned to the changing rooms with a 26 point lead at halftime (77-51).

The second half was a mere formality as the purple and gold cruised to the win, but the biggest story to come out of the game was Sydney’s unbelievable performance from the perimeter, with the team setting a franchise playoff record by knocking down 15 three-pointers from just 18 attempts – a success rate beyond the arc of a absurd 83.3%. It was arguably the greatest three-point shooting exhibition ever by a team in a NBL playoff game.

The Kings finished the game having hit 15 of 18 three-point shots. Greg Hubbard was the chief destroyer, going eight of nine from long distance and finishing with 32 points in just 28 minutes of court time, and he had plenty of help. Mario Donaldson went three of four from the outside as part of his 27-point performance, and co-captain Damian Keogh chipped in with four threes at 80% in his near triple-double of 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

Once the series returned to Melbourne the Giants returned to their winning ways, defeating the Kings in game two (112-91) and game three (104-95). North Melbourne would then go on to win the NBL Championship.

Trimmingham (27.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocks) led the team in points, rebounds and blocks while becoming a fan favourite across the league. Donaldson (22.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals) and Greg Hubbard (18.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists) provided the additional scoring with Keogh also contributing 11.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.8 assists.

1995
After a great start to the 1994 season, the Kings collapsed during the second half of the year with the team’s young roster felt to be the cause. Veteran talent Phil Smyth (Adelaide), Justin Withers (Canberra) and import Bruce Bolden (SE Melbourne), who would replace fan favourite Mario Donaldson, would bring the experience required in spades.

The Kings starting lineup had increased from the average age of 28 to 31, which meant although they had added a ton of experience, this roster would only have one or two years to make it count.

The season started with a narrow 85-86 loss to Bolden’s former team, the Magic, before a up-and-down season, where the Kings defeated a number of league’s top team’s but failed to close out games against those at the bottom of the ladder. Sydney would start the season with a 3-6 record, which included wins over Perth and North Melbourne, who would finish first and third, respectively, but suffered back-to-back losses to Canberra (who would finish tenth) and lost games to Townsville (finished 12th) and Gold Coast (finished 13th).

Leon Trimmingham (27.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2.1 steals and 2.2 blocks) was named Kings team MVP after leading the team in scoring, rebounds, steals and blocks as Bolden (20.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals) and captain Damian Keogh (14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.6 steals) provided the additional scoring power. Sydney finished the season in tenth place with a record of 10-16 and failed to reach the playoffs.

Damian Keogh played sixteen seasons across four NBL teams. This included the Nunawading Spectres, Bankstown Bruins, West Sydney Westars and Sydney Kings. He averaged 13.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists in 406 NBL games.

CAREER RANKINGS:
– 38th in total points
– 8th in total assists
– 12th in total steals

Dan Boyce (835 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.