Damian Richard Matacz (born 28 February 1979) is an Australian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played four seasons of

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

in the United States for

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designa ...

and played 18 seasons for the Joondalup Wolves in the

State Basketball League NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...

(SBL). He won two SBL championships in 2011 and 2015 and was named the SBL Most Valuable Player in 2012. He also had two short stints in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played in New Zealand, Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. He represented the Irish national team in 2008.

Early life

Matacz was born and raised in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, and moved to the United States in the mid-1990s to attend Greenville High School in

Greenville, Michigan Greenville is a city in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. With a population 8,816 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most populous city in Montcalm County, Michigan, Montcalm Co ...

. At Greenville, he earned all-conference honours with the basketball team in 1997.

College career

In 1998, Matacz enrolled at

and joined the Wildcats men's basketball program. He played four seasons for the Wildcats and served as co-captain as a junior and senior. He was the team's Newcomer of the Year in 1999 and MVP in 2001 and 2002. He was also named GLIAC North Division all-conference second team in 2001 and all-conference first team in 2002. In 113 career games, he recorded 1,355 points (12.0 pg) and 715 rebounds (6.3 pg). At Northern Michigan, he majored in finance.

Professional career

Wanneroo/Joondalup Wolves

Matacz debuted for the Wanneroo Wolves of the

(SBL) in 1999. He returned to the Wolves in 2001 and went on to play every year until 2009, winning Club MVP in 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2007. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, Matacz helped the Wolves win the SBL championship with an 88–83 win over the Perry Lakes Hawks in the grand final, where he scored 15 points. In

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, he was named the SBL Most Valuable Player. Following the 2013 season, he retired from the SBL. He won his sixth and final Club MVP in 2013. Matacz came out of retirement in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. He helped the Wolves win the 2015 SBL championship with a 105–75 win over the South West Slammers in the grand final. He played his 300th SBL game in 2016 and his 350th SBL game in 2018. In September 2019, Matacz retired from the SBL for the second and final time. In 385 games, he scored 6,412 points.

Australian NBL, New Zealand, and Europe

Matacz was a member of the

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

of the National Basketball League (NBL) during the 2002–03 season. He played two games for the Wildcats, including 20 seconds on 12 October against the

Wollongong Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) are an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketbal ...

and just under six minutes on 18 January against the Canberra Cannons. In the second game, he had six points, two rebounds and one assist. Matacz played for the

Canterbury Rams The Canterbury Rams are a New Zealand professional men's basketball team based in Christchurch. The Rams compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Cowles Stadium. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as Th ...

of the New Zealand NBL during the 2004 season. In 18 games, he averaged 9.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. For the 2004–05 season, Matacz moved to Ireland to play for

UCC Demons UCC Demons are an Irish basketball team based in Cork. The team competes in the Super League and plays its home games at Mardyke Arena. The team is a division of Blue Demons Basketball Club and is directly associated with the University Colleg ...

of the Irish Superleague. He helped Demons win the championship and averaged 21 points, 11.9 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.7 assists in 22 games. For the 2005–06 season, Matacz moved to Germany to play for TB Weiden of the 2. Basketball Bundesliga. In 13 games for Weiden, he averaged 12.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. He finished the season with a two-game stint in Switzerland with BBC Martigny-Ovronnaz. Matacz initially signed with Spanish team Rhino's Xiria de Carballo for the 2007–08 season, but later joined the

Singapore Slingers The Singapore Slingers are a Singaporean professional basketball team that last competed in the ASEAN Basketball League. The Slingers were known as the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers between 2009 and 2014, due to sponsorship ties with JobSt ...

of the Australian NBL. He played two games for the Slingers to start the 2007–08 NBL season, including in Singapore on 19 September against the

Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Joh ...

and in Perth against the Wildcats on 23 September.

National team career

Matacz represented the Irish national team in 2008, playing in the Emerald Hoops International Series in August and the FIBA EuroBasket 2009 Division B qualifiers in September. In July 2010, Matacz played for a team representing Australia at the

William Jones Cup The William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament (), also known as the William Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in sports, 1977 ...

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

. The team went 0–6 at the tournament.

Personal life

Matacz is the son of Karl and Anne Matacz, and he has a brother, Lucas, and a sister, Rochelle. Matacz holds an

Irish passport An Irish passport () is the passport issued to Irish nationality law, citizens of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. An Irish passport enables the bearer to travel internationally and serves as evidence of Irish nationality and citizenship of the Eu ...

References

External links

Matacz's SBL stats 2009–2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matacz, Damian 1979 births Living people Australian men's basketball players Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canterbury Rams players Centers (basketball) Northern Michigan Wildcats men's basketball players Perth Wildcats players Power forwards Singapore Slingers players Basketball players from Perth, Western Australia Sportsmen from Western Australia