BIO: Mathew Low was born in Sydney (NSW). Won the under 16 national titles with NSW state team.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Mathew Low made his NBL debut with the Newcastle Falcons at 21 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Spent 1992-1994 with the Sydney Kings as a training player but never saw minutes in a NBL game.

In 1996, Low signed with Newcastle and finally made his NBL debut. Although he saw minimal playing opportunities helped the Falcons record a 11-15 record.

1997
After finishing ninth with an 11-15 record and missing the playoffs in 1996, Newcastle entered 1997 amid serious financial problems. David Van Dyke (to Perth), Scott Ninnis (to Adelaide), Matthew Reece (to North Melbourne), Lachlan Armfield (to Illawarra) and Matthew Moore (to South East Melbourne) departed, while Butch Hays, Scott McGregor, Ben Melmeth, Ben Pepper and Martin McLean returned. Tom Wisman left for a coaching job in Japan, resulting in assistant Shawn Dennis being promoted to his first NBL head coaching role. “Like most young coaches you think you are ready until you get into that hot seat and you go, ‘oh my gosh, this is crazy’,” Dennis later said. Tonny Jensen (via North Melbourne), Dave Simmons (via Melbourne), Greg Blake and Damien Robertson were added to the roster.

Newcastle opened the season at Beaton Park on April 12, where Low (0 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 block) provided 16 minutes from the bench as Simmons (22 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals), Jensen (20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 block), McGregor (17 points and 7 rebounds), Melmeth (16 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block) and Hays (16 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal) led the Falcons to a 112-96 win over Wollongong, while Clayton Ritter (25 points and 7 rebounds) led the Hawks.

Low (1 point across 20 games) returned for his second season with Newcastle and remained in a reserve frontcourt role, averaging 7.3 minutes per game while shooting 41 percent from the field. He appeared in 20 of Newcastle’s 30 games, with no injury reported during the season to account for the ten games he did not play.

Low’s season-high was 4 points, while his best all-round performance came against Wollongong at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on May 18, where Low (2 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal) made one of two shots. Jensen (27 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block) and McGregor (22 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists) led Newcastle, but Ritter (27 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocks), Glen Saville (23 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists) and Matt Zauner (20 points and 10 rebounds) helped Wollongong defeat the Falcons 126-95.

Newcastle suffered its heaviest defeat of the season in Adelaide on June 22, where Low (2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block) made his only field-goal attempt, while McGregor (20 points and 5 assists), Simmons (17 points), Melmeth (16 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks) and Jensen (16 points and 6 assists) led the Falcons. Brett Wheeler (30 points and 8 rebounds) and Brett Maher (19 points and 8 assists) powered Adelaide to a 141-99 victory.

Jensen (22.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.6 steals across 30 games) led Newcastle in scoring, while Hays (17.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.4 steals across 30 games) remained the Falcons’ main playmaker. McGregor (15.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists across 30 games), Melmeth (12.3 points and 8 rebounds across 27 games) and Simmons (12.2 points and 7.4 rebounds across 30 games) provided the other major contributions. Pepper (10 points and 5.9 rebounds across 30 games) produced a breakout season, was selected by the Boston Celtics with pick 55 in the 1997 NBA Draft and finished the year as the NBL’s Most Improved Player and Best Sixth Man.

Newcastle closed the season on September 28 with a 108-99 loss to minor premiers South East Melbourne at Dandenong Basketball Stadium, leaving the Falcons ninth with a 12-18 record and outside the playoffs.

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).

Low would continue to see limited playing opportunities with the Falcons, appearing in only 28 games and averaging 2.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.4 assists.

1998/99
Entering the 1998/99 season, the Falcons were in dire financial trouble, but on the brink of the season starting, they secured funds from a group of investors from Albury. As a result, the Falcons were able to retain local talent Ben Melmeth, Terry Johnson and import Todd Mundt but were forced to build the rest of the team on a shoestring budget. Somewhat luckily, Newcastle benefitted from the merger of South East Melbourne and North Melbourne, which saw Pat Reidy and import Butch Hays both former Giants players, without a team. With few NBL team’s having any space on their rosters at this stage, the Falcons were able to sign both at budget prices. Dean Brogan (via Adelaide), Rod Johnson (via Canberra) and legendary shot blocker Willie Simmons was lured out of retirement to play another season.

While obvious favourites to finish on the bottom of the ladder, the Falcons surprised everyone by winning five of their first six games.

Shortly after, reports of players not being paid their salaries surfaced, and the focus, motivation and production among the players began to wane. Mundt exited the team as a result of not getting paid on time and was replaced with Simmons (14.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.2 steals) who after a season playing with Sydney was sitting at home after being unable to find another new deal.

The remainder of the season then saw Newcastle record three wins from their next nineteen games before finally beating Perth (113–111) in their final game of the year.

Pat Reidy (17.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.1 steals) led the team in scoring, Ben Melmeth (17.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals) led the team in rebounds while Terry Johnson (14.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.1 steals) delivered his best season at the point guard position and his brother Rod Johnson (11.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists) rounded out the team’s leading scorers. Low would also contribute 1.3 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.2 assists across 24 games.

After narrowly surviving the season before, this would prove to be the death knell for Newcastle, with the league stepping in to address their financial situation and its result being the removal of their NBL licence and the Falcons being forced out of the league.

Mathew Low played four seasons the Newcastle Falcons. He averaged 1.4 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.2 assists in 94 NBL games.