BIO: Marc Brandon was born in Wollongong (NSW) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Illawarra basketball program. Brandon received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 1991. He spent one year there and played for the program’s state league team.

FAMILY: Marc’s brother, Guy Brandon also played 18 games in the NBL.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Marc Brandon made his NBL debut with the Illawarra Hawks at 19 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

As a rookie, Brandon appeared in 8 games and averaged 2.0 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.5 assists as the Hawks finished in sixth place (15-11).

1994
In 1994, Brandon averaged 4.3 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.4 assists, playing a regular role in the Hawks rotation as Illawarra finished in tenth place (13-13).

1995
After three consecutive years of being eliminated in the first round of the NBL playoffs, head coach Alan Black knew his job was on the line if the team was unable to advance past the Quarterfinals. Black was able to re-sign star import Melvin Thomas and have veterans Chuck Harmison, Mick Corkeron and Dene MacDonald return but lost Butch Hays and Craig Adams, who both signed with Newcastle. Black bolstered his roster by replacing Hays with pass-first point guard Andre LaFleur, who had connected on more assists than any other player in the league over the prior three seasons, former Perth Wildcats star Kendal Pinder, young talent Glen Saville and Illawarra junior Terry Johnson.

Five games into the season, offcourt issues arose surrounding Pinder, who was released from the team after facing criminal charges. However, with his absence and injuries to Mick Corkeron (9.7 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.7 assists), the Hawks witnessed the explosion of young point guard Terry Johnson. Johnson, who had failed to make his with the Giants two years earlier. Off court issues saw the Giants question Johnson’s commitment to the sport which resulted in him spending a year playing with Cairns in the state league. Johnson (11.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists) respnded by tripling his numbers from 1993 to finish as the competition’s leading three point shooter at 48 percent (34 of 71) and runner-up to Tonny Jensen (Newcastle) for the Most Improved Player award.

Melvin Thomas led the team in almost every category, posting 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4.6 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.8 blocks and formed quite the duo with LaFleur, who finished with averages of 21.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.9 steals. Brandon finished the season with averages of 5.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.8 assists.

Illawarra (14-12) finished seventh and faced off against second-placed South East Melbourne in the Quarterfinals. In game one, the Hawks delivered a upset, defeating the Magic behind a 29 point outburst from 37 year old veteran Chuck Harmison (12.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists). The Hawk’s flying start was stemmed once the series moved to Melbourne. There, the Magic claimed victory in both games two (92-89) and three (93-75) to deliver a fourth straight Quarterfinals exit for Illawarra in as many years.

Brandon continued to see his numbers improve, becoming a regular part of the team’s rotation and averaging 5.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.8 assists across 27 games.

1996
After losing both coach Alan Black and their leading scorer and rebounder from the past four seasons in Melvin Thomas the Hawks looked to rebuild in 1996. Although many felt the void left by Thomas and Black heading to NSW rivals Sydney would be difficult to replace, incoming coach Brendan Joyce had just the player in mind. New arrival Marcus Timmons surprised everyone by being one of the premier forwards in the competition, proving to be a more than adequate replacement for Thomas and led the team in points (21.9 ppg), rebounds, (12.3 rpg), steals (2.3 spg) and blocks (1.0 bpg). Alongside Timmons, Terry Johnson (16.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.2 assists) would produced the best numbers of his career, this included a career high 41 points in a win over rival club Sydney (145 def. 121).

The big numbers delivered by Timmons and Johnson were offset however by the decline of import point guard Andre LaFleur (18.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 6.9 assists) who had shown clear signs of slowing down in his sixth season, averaging career lows in points, rebounds and assists. Hawks legend Greg Hubbard also struggled to overcome a back injury which saw him average 6.0 points in 16 minutes per game (lowest minutes of career) and retire at the end of the season. As a result, the Hawks struggled to find wins during the year and finished in tenth place (9-17).

Brandon would finish the year averaging 3.1 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game.

1997
After another season missing out on the NBL playoffs in 1996, the Hawks were unable to retain their scoring and rebounding leader Marcus Timmons (who would end up leading the Melbourne Tigers to the championship that season) and were forced to move into a rebuilding phase for this season. Illawarra would focus on the continued development of Hawks big man Matt Zauner, who was named team captain at the start of the season, and young stars Glen Saville and Mat Campbell. Eric Cooks, who had played under head coach Brendan Joyce, and alongside Campbell and Saville with the Ballarat Miners in state league competition, was added for veteran leadership. The Hawks then decided not to re-sign 31-year-old Andre LaFleur and signed two young imports in guard Bryan Edwards and big man Clayton Ritter to replace the scoring and rebounding of Timmons.

With Edwards not being the fit needed at point guard and off-court issues between Zauner and Joyce stemming from a contract dispute the Hawks struggled. Edwards was replaced by Dylan Rigdon mid-season and the Hawks (7-23) failed to make the playoffs yet again. Brandon continue to see his playing time decrease, averaging 1.7 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 0.2 assists for the season which prompted his decision to shift clubs the following year.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS
1998
After losing up and coming talent Scott McGregor (to Sydney) and Ben Pepper (to North Melbourne), coach Shawn Dennis made several changes to the roster, including moving on from aging imports Dave Simmons and Butch Hays. Dennis chose to replace Hays with Terry Johnson (via Illawarra), who, after delivering a number of productive seasons as a shooting guard, believed he could also make a import at the point guard spot. After the Hawks told him that he wasn’t a ‘point guards bootlace’ he headed to Newcastle, who were willing to give him a season running the point.

Newcastle added Tonny Jensen (via Townsville) and Marc Brandon (via Illawarra) to replace their local talent and then rounded out the roster by adding former Sydney Kings fan favourite Isaac Burton and highly credentialled NBA big man Todd Mundt as imports.

Newcastle lost their opening game to South East Melbourne (73–93) and went on to suffer defeats to Illawarra (92-96), Sydney (90–105) and Brisbane (90-92) before they chalked up their first win against Townsville (110–96).

While the loses continued to rack up, the unearthed a future star with Newcastle local Ben Melmeth lifting his production from 12.3 points and 8.0 rebounds to 21.6 points and 12.4 rebounds. As a result, Melmeth was selected to the All-NBL First Team and named Most Improved Player at the end of the season.

Johnson (10.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists) fared well in his new role, his play gaining him a spot at this years Boomers selection camp and Burton (19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.2 steals), Todd Mundt (13.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists) and returning star Tonny Jensen (18.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.3 steals) delivered quality numbers as well. The lack of production came from the team’s bench, who combined to deliver 12 points per game in total, with new recruit Brandon (3.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.7 assists) the highest scoring player off the bench. As a result, the Falcons struggled to stay in front during any game during times they rested their starting lineup and finished the season in tenth place (9-21).

Marc Brandon played six seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Illawarra Hawks and the Newcastle Falcons. He averaged 3.6 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in 113 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (798 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.