BIO: Matthew Alexander was born in Warrnambool (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Warrnambool basketball program. Alexander received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 1990. He spent one year there and played for the program’s state league team.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Matthew Alexander made his NBL debut with the Geelong Supercats at 18 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

While a influx of cash had seen the Supercats return to the playoffs on the back of great seasons from Shane Heal, Bobby Locke, Daren Rowe and Jim Bateman, the team had been fighting to stay alive. The club’s financial woes almost saw them out of the league if not for a interest free loan they received from the NBL to keep them in the competition. The lack of finances resulted in the club unable to re-sign the majority of it’s roster, having to replace coach Barry Barnes with former St Kilda Saints player Steve Breheny and losing five of the team’s top six scorers to other clubs. Vince Hinchen (to Perth), Shane Heal (to Brisbane), Terry Dozier (to Newcastle), John Dorge (to South East Melbourne) and Jim Bateman (to Gold Coast) all exiting.

The Supercats attempted to fill the gaps by signing naturalised import Cecil Exum (via North Melbourne), Wayne Larkins (via South East Melbourne), rookie Matthew Alexander. Import Lafester Rhodes was also signed with the team playing out the season with only eight players getting regular minutes.

Rhodes (23.5 points, 7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.7 blocks) put up impressive numbers during his stint with Geelong, but six games in and the team elected to replace him with Chris Harris (20.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 3.3 steals). Geelong was able to get productive seasons from both the returning Bobby Locke (31.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.5 steals) and new additions Exum (17.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.4 steals, and 1.5 blocks) and Larkins (12.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists). Despite this, Geelong would still plummet to the bottom of the ladder, finishing dead last (2-22). This equalled the second fewest win total in a NBL season, a record set by Geelong’s zero win season in 1988.

Alexander would see limited playing opportunities with the Supercats, appearing in 22 games and averaging 5.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1 assists.

NORTH MELBOURNE GIANTS
1993
In 1993, the Giants chose not to re-sign long-term head coach Bruce Palmer who, since taking over in 1987, had led them to the semi finals five of six years and to the 1989 championship. His successor would be found in young Melbourne Tigers assistant Brett Brown whose appointment was deemed a cash-saving move by a team beginning to face years of financial uncertainty. Another sign of the Giant’s financial struggles became evident when they lost star import Scott Fisher to the ‘deeper pockets’ of the Perth Wildcats.

Brown began his search for Fisher’s replacement first with import Chuckie White, who failed to cut it during pre-season, before settling on Jason Reese. Reese was known around the league as ‘workhorse’ and dominant inside scorer that had spent the past two seasons with Hobart (1991) and Canberra (1992) and Mark Leader, who had became a naturalised Australian in 1993, replaced Fisher as team captain.

Reese went on to lead the team in scoring (26.4 ppg and 8.9 rpg), fellow import Paul Maley led the team in rebounding (22.5 ppg and 9.1 rpg). Alexander saw minimal playing time, failing to score a point across the entire season.

North Melbourne finished the season (13-13) sneaking into the final playoff spot. There, they would face familiar foes, Scott Fisher and the Perth Wildcats who had finished the season in first place (21-5). Despite winning game one at home (105-101), the Giants would lose games two (98-108) and three (104-117) to Perth to put a end to their season.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS
1994
Seeking more playing time, Alexander moved to Newcastle and averaged 4.6 points, 4 rebounds, and 0.9 assists, playing a key role in the Falcons second unit. Newcastle finished in eighth place during the regular season (13-13).

1995
During the 1995 season Alexander averaged 5.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.7 assists and helped the Falcons finish the regular season in a eighth place (17-9).

TOWNSVILLE SUNS
1996
In 1996, Alexander averaged 4.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.7 assists as the Suns recorded a 9-17 season.

CAIRNS TAIPANS
2000/01
Having been unable to find a roster spot in the NBL for five years, Alexander got a second chance with the Cairns Taipans. There he added veteran leadership for a team which had only been in the league for one season and averaged 3.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.2 assists per game. The Taipans finished the season in ninth place (6-22).

Matthew Alexander played six seasons across five NBL teams. This included the Geelong Supercats, Townsville Suns, North Melbourne Giants, Newcastle Falcons and Cairns Taipans. He averaged 4.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 111 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (828 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.