BIO: Ian Manson was born in Horsham (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Horsham basketball program.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Ian Manson made his NBL debut with the St. Kilda Saints on 25/2/1979. He scored 10 points in his first game.

During the league’s first season, Manson averaged 9.1 points for the St Kilda Saints, who finished the season with a record of 12-6. The Saints lineup began that first season with a 3-3 record but proved they were the best team by finishing the season on a 12-game winning streak.

To crown the first champions of the national league, only the first and second teams progressed into the postseason, which saw St Kilda (1st) defeating Canberra (2nd) in the Grand Final match.

Cal Stamp (23.8 ppg) was one of three imports on the Cannons roster, the other two being Herb McEachin (23.8 ppg) and Jerry Lee (8.9 ppg). St Kilda, however, had decided to play with an all Aussie lineup, relying on Sengstock (17.6 ppg), Tony Barnett (22.3 ppg) and Danny Morseau (15.8 ppg).

Larry Sengstock (33 points) delivered a career high scoring night while his counterpart Cal Stamp (32 points) top scored for the Cannons, illustrating just how much of the game came down to the centre position in those days. Trailing by one point against Canberra in the NBL’s first Grand Final, Robbie Cadee threaded a super pass to a cutting Peter Vitols for an easy basket and St Kilda became the league’s inaugural championships (94-93). To date, St Kilda is the only team to ever win an NBL championship without any import players.

GEELONG CATS
1982
On the back of winning a state league title in 1981, Geelong and a successful appeareance in the NBL preseason tournament where the Cats defeated multiple NBL squads, Geelong was entered into the NBL for the 1982 season.

No one would have predicted that Geelong would reach the NBL Grand Final in their first year in the competition, especially after starting the year with a 2-3 record which included a drubbing at the hands of Nunawading.

Bruton began the year carrying the offensive load for the Cats, in fact, he was the league-leading scorer for the first seven weeks of the season until eventual winner Reg Biddings took over, on the back of his 63 point effort, which remains the highest score in a 40-minute NBL game.

As a result of the team’s slow start, coach Tim Kaiser was fired and replaced with the team’s high-scoring guard Cal Bruton, who would act as a player-coach for the remainder of the season. A stunning 13-game winning streak followed, culminating with Geelong finishing in second place (20-6).

Manson averaged 4.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.3 assists for the season, alongside Bruton (23.4 points 3.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists) and fellow import James Crawford (26.0 points and 10.9 rebounds) as the team got their revenge on Nunawading by defeating them in the semifinals (71-59).

Geelong then advanced to the Grand Final where they would face West Adelaide who had lost only five games for the year, twice by one point and once by two points before eliminating Coburg in the semifinals to reach the Grand Final. In fact, during the last round of the season, West Adelaide had thrashed Geelong by 29 points at Apollo Stadium to cement themselves into a first-place finish.

The championship game was played at the neutral venue of Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium (Newcastle), as a neutral venue, where the Bearcats would prove far too strong.

Behind the team’s ‘Big Three’ of Al Green (23.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists), Leroy Loggins (25.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) and player/coach Ken Richardson (14.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists), they resisted a courageous second-half challenge by Geelong to win the Grand Final (80-74), becoming the team from South Australia to win the national championship.

In their 15 seasons of NBL competition from 1982 to 1996, this would prove to be Geelong’s only NBL Grand Final appearance. At the end of the season, Bruton received the league’s Coach of the Year award, and Crawford earned a spot on the All-NBL First Team.

1984
After failing to make Geelong’s roster in 1983, Manson sat out an NBL season, before getting another chance with North Melbourne. The 1984 season saw Manson average 1.0 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.1 assists while the Giants went on to a third place finish in the regular season (18-6).

Ian Manson played three seasons across three NBL teams. This included the St. Kilda Saints, Geelong Cats and Coburg Giants. He averaged 4.8 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.1 assists in 66 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (833 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.