Chris Williams
July 23, 2020
Travis Lane
- Nationality: AUS
- Date of Birth: 7/05/76
- Place of Birth: Penrith (NSW)
- Position: GRD
- Height (CM): 181
- Weight (KG): 80
- Junior Assoc: NSW - Penrith
- College: Lander University (1998–2001)
- NBL DEBUT: 11/10/01
- AGE AT DEBUT: 25
- LAST NBL GAME: 3/03/04
- AGE AT LAST GAME: 27
- NBL History: Sydney 2002-03 | Perth 2004
- Championships: 1
- Sydney (2003)
BIO: Travis Lane was born in Penrith (NSW) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Penrith basketball program.
NBL EXPERIENCE
Travis Lane made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 25 years of age. He scored 17 points in his first game.
Following the Kings’ elimination by Townsville in the 2000/01 playoffs, Sydney retained Shane Heal, Matthew Nielsen, Ben Melmeth, Frank Drmic, James Smith, Derek Moore and Michael Kingma, among others, under head coach Brett Brown.
Sydney added Lane, B.J. Carter and Stephen Whitehead, and later brought back Isaac Burton to bolster the roster.
The Kings opened the season on 11 October with a 117–99 win against West Sydney at the Sydney SuperDome.
In Sydney’s 138–88 win over Cairns in early November, Heal (40 points and 12 assists) led the attack, while Lane (15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists) supplied support as part of the Kings’ backcourt rotation.
Sydney’s season included victories against Perth and Townsville, although the Kings were unable to find the consistency needed to reach the playoffs.
Lane (6.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.7 steals across 30 games) played 21.8 minutes per game, recording 190 points and 51 steals in his first NBL season.
Heal (24.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists) led Sydney’s scoring and playmaking, with Nielsen (19.5 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists), Melmeth (15.6 points and 11 rebounds) and Drmic (17.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists) contributing to the team’s offence.
Sydney finished eighth with a 14–16 record, missing the postseason, while Lane was named the NBL’s 2001/02 Rookie of the Year.
2002/03
In 2002/03, Travis Lane played 35 games for the Sydney Kings, averaging 3.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game.
Brett Brown had helped assemble much of the new-look squad before accepting an NBA position with San Antonio, allowing Brian Goorjian to take over after arriving from Victoria.
The Kings retained Heal, Nielsen, Melmeth, Lane and Kingma, while bringing in David Stiff (via Adelaide), Brad Sheridan (via Victoria), rookie Gary Boodnikoff and imports Chris Williams and Kavossy Franklin.
Sydney opened the season with a 96–88 road victory over Townsville, where Williams (24 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks) led the Kings.
The Kings won eight of their final nine regular-season games, with Williams (23.6 points, 12.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.3 blocks), Heal (20 points and 6 assists), Franklin (17.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists), Nielsen (15.3 points and 6.7 rebounds) and Melmeth (9 points and 5.5 rebounds) providing their principal offensive contributions.
Williams earned NBL MVP and All-NBL First Team honours, Heal joined him on the All-NBL First Team, Nielsen was selected to the All-NBL Second Team, Franklin made the Third Team and Boodnikoff won Rookie of the Year.
Sydney opened its playoff series against Melbourne with a 101–89 victory, led by Heal (25 points), Franklin (19 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists) and Stiff (18 points and 11 rebounds), while Andrew Gaze (21 points) led Melbourne.
Melbourne levelled the series with a 108–104 win in Sydney, as Gaze (25 points), Lanard Copeland (22 points) and Mark Bradtke (21 points) countered Williams (32 points), Nielsen (21 points) and Franklin (16 points).
The Kings won the deciding game 114–89 behind Williams (25 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks), while Stephen Hoare (15 points and 12 rebounds) was among Melbourne’s leading contributors.
In the semifinals, Sydney beat Townsville 124–107 on the road with Williams (26 points), Nielsen (25 points) and Franklin (25 points) leading the Kings, while Pat Reidy (29 points) paced the Crocodiles.
Townsville responded with a 113–91 victory in Sydney, despite Nielsen (31 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks) leading the Kings.
Sydney claimed the deciding semifinal 114–99, with Heal (31 points) and Williams (31 points) leading the Kings and Peter Crawford (25 points) heading Townsville’s scorers.
The Grand Final began with Sydney overcoming a 14-point deficit late in the game to defeat Perth 98–94, behind Williams (26 points, 15 rebounds and 4 steals), while Nielsen (15 points) scored the winning basket and Ricky Grace recorded a triple-double for Perth.
In game two, the Kings defeated the Wildcats 117–101 in Perth behind Williams (24 points), Heal (23 points) and Nielsen (21 points), while Rob Feaster (40 points) led the Wildcats, securing Sydney’s first NBL title and Williams’ Grand Final MVP award.
Sydney finished first with a 22–8 regular-season record and won the club’s first NBL championship.
PERTH WILDCATS
2003/04
After losing the 2003 Grand Final to Sydney, Perth replaced head coach Alan Black with former Wildcats player Mike Ellis, who took over a reshaped roster for the 2003/04 season.
Captain Ricky Grace, James Harvey, Tony Ronaldson, Matthew Burston and Ben Thompson remained, while Brett Wheeler departed for Sydney and leading scorer Rob Feaster joined Victoria.
The Wildcats signed imports Reed Rawlings and John Jackson, with Lane joining from the championship-winning Kings and Liam Rush also entering the rotation.
Perth opened the season on 4 October with a 114–95 home defeat against Sydney, where Tony Ronaldson (23 points) led the Wildcats and Ebi Ere (25 points) led the Kings.
The Wildcats struggled away from home during the regular season but collected victories against Adelaide (118–105), Cairns (101–97), Townsville (115–72) and Wollongong (100–98) at home.
Lane (4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds across 33 games) averaged 16.8 minutes per game and also contributed 1.6 assists per game, scoring 138 points in his final NBL season.
Perth finished seventh with a 15–18 record and entered the elimination final against Cairns, with Ellis guiding the team to the postseason in his first year as coach.
On 3 March 2004, the Taipans eliminated Perth 103–96 at the Cairns Convention Centre after withstanding a final-quarter Wildcats comeback.
Anthony Stewart (30 points), Marcus Timmons (22 points), Aaron Grabau (16 points) and Chris Burgess (15 points and 9 rebounds) led Cairns, while James Harvey (26 points) and Rashad Tucker (24 points) paced a Perth side missing injured captain Grace.
Travis Lane played three seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Perth Wildcats and the Sydney Kings. He averaged 4.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 98 NBL games.
NBL TOTAL STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-04 | 27 | Perth | 15-18 (7) | 33 | 553 | 138 | 81 | 54 | 18 | 63 | 25 | 3 | 44 | 64 | 42 | 105 | 40% | 18 | 55 | 33% | 36 | 50 | 72% | 54% | 49% | 16 |
| 2002-03 | 26 | Sydney | 22-8 (1) | 35 | 392 | 116 | 47 | 39 | 18 | 29 | 24 | 0 | 33 | 39 | 34 | 81 | 42% | 13 | 44 | 30% | 35 | 47 | 74% | 56% | 50% | 11 |
| 2001-02 | 25 | Sydney | 14-16 (8) | 30 | 653 | 190 | 95 | 50 | 30 | 65 | 51 | 6 | 54 | 81 | 70 | 175 | 40% | 23 | 79 | 29% | 27 | 42 | 64% | 49% | 47% | 17 | Totals | 98 | 1598 | 444 | 223 | 143 | 66 | 157 | 100 | 9 | 131 | 184 | 146 | 361 | 40.4% | 54 | 178 | 30.3% | 98 | 139 | 70.5% | 53% | 48% | 17 |
NBL PER GAME STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-04 | 27 | Perth | 15-18 (7) | 33 | 16.8 | 4.2 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 40% | 0.5 | 1.7 | 33% | 1.1 | 1.5 | 72% | 54% | 49% | 16 |
| 2002-03 | 26 | Sydney | 22-8 (1) | 35 | 11.2 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.3 | 42% | 0.4 | 1.3 | 30% | 1.0 | 1.3 | 74% | 56% | 50% | 11 |
| 2001-02 | 25 | Sydney | 14-16 (8) | 30 | 21.8 | 6.3 | 3.2 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 5.8 | 40% | 0.8 | 2.6 | 29% | 0.9 | 1.4 | 64% | 49% | 47% | 17 | Total | 98 | 16.3 | 4.5 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 3.7 | 40.4% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 30.3% | 0.6 | 1.8 | 70.5% | 53% | 48% | 17 |
CAREER HIGHS
| POINTS | REBOUNDS | ASSISTS | STEALS | BLOCKS | TURNOVERS | TRIPLE DOUBLES | 17 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
|---|
STATE LEAGUE EXPERIENCE
- Penrith 1997-98 | Northern Suburbs 2002
Lane represented Penrith in Australian state-league basketball in 1997 and 1998 before his US college career.
He subsequently played for Northern Suburbs in 2002 while also representing the Sydney Kings in the NBL.
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
- New Zealand - Otago Nuggets (2001)
Lane joined the Otago Nuggets for the 2001 New Zealand NBL season, playing his first season in New Zealand, and he finished the regular season as the league’s steals leader at 3.0 per game.
Lane’s Otago team finished 9th with a 3–13 record in a 16-game regular season, and during the same year Nuggets guard Hayden Allen was named to the competition’s All-Star Five.
COLLEGE
Lane played NCAA Division II basketball for Lander University in South Carolina from 1998/99 to 2000/01, representing the Bearcats in the Peach Belt Conference.
In 1998/99, Lander finished 25–7 overall and 13–3 in conference play, with Lane appearing in 31 games and starting twice.
Lane (7.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists) recorded 223 points, 69 rebounds, 74 assists, 52 steals and 7 blocks, shooting 75-for-170 from the field (44.1%) and 29-for-78 from three-point range (37.2%).
Lander reached the NCAA Division II Tournament that season, defeating Catawba, Georgia College & State and Winston-Salem State before falling 74–69 to Kentucky Wesleyan on 17 March 1999.
During 1999/00, the Bearcats finished 21–9 overall and 12–4 in conference play, and Lane appeared in 25 games, starting all 25.
Lane (8.7 points, 3 rebounds and 4.5 assists) totaled 217 points, 75 rebounds, 112 assists, 68 steals and 14 blocks in 653 minutes, shooting 77-for-169 from the field (45.6%) and 21-for-67 from three-point range (31.3%).
Lander finished 17–10 overall and 11–5 in the Peach Belt Conference in 2000/01, with Lane appearing in 27 games and starting 25.
Lane (10.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists) scored 285 points and added 122 rebounds, 102 assists, 61 steals and 11 blocks across 804 minutes, shooting 78-for-187 from the field (41.7%), 28-for-84 from three-point range (33.3%) and 101-for-134 from the free-throw line (75.4%).
Across those three documented seasons, Lane appeared in 83 games for Lander, totaling 725 points, 266 rebounds, 288 assists, 181 steals and 32 blocks.
Lander's archived 2001/02 roster does not list Lane, consistent with his move to the Sydney Kings for the 2001/02 NBL season.
AWARDS
- NBL Rookie Of The Year (2002)
Related
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