BIO: Damon Lowery was born in Saginaw, Michigan (USA).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Damon Lowery made his NBL debut with the Wollongong Hawks at 30 years of age. He scored three points in his first game.

In 2000, Lowery was recruited by the Hawks from the Kilsyth Cobra’s state league team by Brendan Joyce after he had become a naturalised Australian. Lowery had been plying his trade in the ABA for years where he was a regular All-Star, noted, among other talents for his 85 percent free throw accuracy.

Prior to the start of the season, coach Brendan Joyce changed almost half his roster, adding Charles Thomas, Damon Lowery, Grant Kruger, Matt Shanahan and Axel Dench. He had waited a longtime for his NBL shot and was not going to waste a second of it and rewarded Joyce’s faith in him by recording 13.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in his debut season. After finishing the regular season in fourth with a club-best 21 wins from 28 games, Wollongong upset Perth in game one of the qualifying finals behind a 22 point, 13 rebound effort from Melvin Thomas and a 19 point effort from Lowery to win at home 97–90. The Hawks fell short in Perth In game two, 95-106 as foul trouble limited Lowery’s production and he finished with only 9 points (3/13 shooting). This set up a Game 3, held in Perth, where the Hawks won a major upset thanks to a 26 point, 16 rebound performance from Glen Saville and a 20 point game from Lowery to win 98–88.

This set up a semi-final matchup with the Adelaide 36ers, a series where Lowery would became a household name. Lowery would have a modest series in the Hawks first two games of the series. He scored 12 points in the team’s narrow 84-83 game win in Adelaide and then contributed nine points in the team’s game two loss at home, 100–111. The third and deciding game, held at Wollongong’s WIN Entertainment Centre saw Lowery etch his name into NBL folklore.

Game 3 of the semi finals began in a scrappy contest. Adelaide and Illawarra both proceeding to fumble game clinching plays in the dying seconds before a Lowery, with seconds remaining hoisted a contested three but was “fouled” by Adelaide’s Darnell Mee as he blocked the long-range prayer. With players told not to line up in the key, Lowery was awarded three free throws – if he hit just one foul shot, the Hawks would lose, two would force overtime and nailing all three would send the into the Grand Final against Townsville.

The first shot rolled from side to side before dropping through the net. He swished the second one rattled in after a detour to the backboard. If it was a Hollywood script, you’d think it was too cheesy but his third shot bounced around the rim six times and with Lowery on his knees basically praying, the ball dropped through the net to put the Hawks into the decider where they won their first and to this day only championship.

The Hawks went on to face the Townsville Crocodiles in the 2001 NBL Grand Final, winning game one at home 104-101, a game Lowery struggled in, scoring a modest five points. The series would shift to Townsville for games two and three and the Crocodiles rebounded at home winning the second game 114–97 despite Lowery scoring a playoff career high 25 points. game three was a gruelling matchup, played the very next day where the blue-collar Hawks snuck out the three-point victory 97-94, Charles Thomas top scoring with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. Glen Saville would add 18 points and 12 rebounds, and claim the NBL Finals MVP while Lowery contributed 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in the deciding game. The Hawks 2–1 victory saw them become the first New South Wales club to win a NBL championship.

2001/02
In 2001/02, Lowery averaged 10.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists, playing a key role in the Hawks rotation, helping the team finish in fourth place (16-14).

2002/03
The 2002/03 season saw Lowery average 11.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.9 assists and play a key role in helping the Hawks to a fourth place finish (18-12).

2003/04
During the 2003/04 season Lowery averaged 11.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists and helped the Hawks finish the regular season in second place (25-8 ).

HUNTER PIRATES
2004/05
In the Pirates second NBL season, Adrian Hurley was enticed out of semi-retirement to take on the role of head coach. Feeling that the team’s roster was weak and a direct result for their poor performance last season. Hurley retained only three players, Geordie Cullen, Brendan Mann and Josh Morgan from the previous season’s squad that won only two games.

Ben Melmeth (via New Zealand), Russell Hinder (via West Sydney), Brad Davidson (via Townsville), Damon Lowery (via Townville) and Larry Davidson formed the Pirates new look roster and imports Brian Wethers and Kavossy Franklin were signed to provide offensive scoring power.

Under the guidance of former Australian coach Adrian Hurley, the Pirates became a force to be reckoned with and after a slow start (1-4), the Pirates began reeling off victories against some of the league’s best team’s, including a away win over Perth (83-77) and defeating league leaders Wollongong (90–81). Ten games into the season and the Pirates sat in fifth spot on the ladder (5-5) with much of the credit going to the unselfish play of imports Brian Wethers (24.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists) and Kavossy Franklin (20.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.2 steals).

Weathers would go on to be selected in the All-NBL first team and win the league’s Most Valuble Player award and after winning the last two games of the season, Hunter would secure the final playoff berth and finish in eighth place (13-15).

In the Elimination Finals, however, Hunter fell short to Brisbane (99-113), a loss which ended playoff run.

Lowery would appear in 15 games and average 8.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals.

TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES
2005/06
In 2005/06, Lowery averaged 5.5 points and 1.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists, and helped guide the Crocodiles to a ninth place finish in the regular season with a 9-23 record.

Damon Lowery played six seasons across three NBL teams. This included the Wollongong Hawks, Hunter Pirates and Townsville Crocodiles. He averaged 10.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 185 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (832 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.