Dion Anthony Prewster (born 10 January 1990) is an American-born New Zealand

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 who last played for the

Wellington Saints The Wellington Saints are a New Zealand professional men's basketball team based in Wellington. The Saints compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at TSB Bank Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as ...

of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). He played

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 ...

for San Jacinto College and Stephen F. Austin State University. He served as an assistant coach of the Shimane Susanoo Magic in the Japanese B.League during the 2023–24 season.

Early life

Prewster was born in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

, to an African-American father and a Samoan mother. He was raised by his mother in

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

and spent time in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

before moving to

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

when he was seven.Basketball: Prewster's background no hurdle
/ref> He grew up in the suburb of JohnsonvilleDion Prewster's solid NBL season with Saints capped with Tall Blacks selection
/ref> and attended Wellington College, before moving to the United States for his senior year of high school. He enrolled at Iowa City High School in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, fifth-most populous c ...

, where he led his team to the Class 4A state championship in 2007–08.Dion Prewster Bio
/ref>

College career

As a freshman at San Jacinto College in 2008–09, Prewster averaged 8.9 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in helping the basketball team to a 25–5 record and the ETJCC South Division title. As a sophomore in 2009–10, he earned first-team All-ETJCC and All-Region XIV honors after averaging 14.3 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game. On 6 May 2010, Prewster transferred to Stephen F. Austin State University. As a junior for SFA in 2010–11, he averaged 5.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 29 games with three starts. On 20 April 2011, Prewster transferred again, this time to

Truman State University Truman State University (TSU or Truman) is a Public university, public Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Kirksville, Missouri, United States. It had 3,664 enrolled students in the fall of 2024 pursuing degrees in 55 undergraduate ...

Professional career

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 ...

, Prewster debuted in the New Zealand NBL for the

.Player statistics for Dion Prewster – NZNBL
/ref> He was a member of the Saints' championship-winning team in his first year. For the 2011–12 season, Prewster decided against returning to the United States and instead signed with the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

of the Australian NBL. He appeared in 12 games for the Breakers in 2011–12, and in April 2012, he was a member of the Breakers' championship-winning squad. For the 2012 New Zealand NBL season, Prewster joined the Southland Sharks. In 12 games, he averaged 8.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. The following year, he played for the

Hawke's Bay Hawks The Hawke's Bay Hawks are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Napier. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Pettigrew Green Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as th ...

and averaged 13.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steals in 16 games. He returned to the Wellington Saints in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and averaged 8.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 20 games, while winning his second New Zealand NBL championship. With the Saints 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 averaged a career-high 14.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 20 games. On 24 August 2015, Prewster signed with the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

for the 2015–16 NBL season. On 7 November 2015, he scored a season-high 12 points against the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in the state's capital of Adela ...

. He appeared in 28 games for the Kings, averaging 3.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. Prewster returned to the Wellington Saints for a third season in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. In the Saints' regular season finale on 29 May, Prewster scored 40 points in 21 minutes off the bench in a 120–72 win over the Hawke's Bay Hawks. He subsequently earned Player of the Week honors for Round 12. The Saints went on to win the championship, with Prewster winning his third title. Prewster returned to the Sydney Kings for the 2016–17 NBL season, and in 14 games averaged 1.1 points. For the 2017 New Zealand NBL season, Prewster joined the

Nelson Giants The Nelson Giants are a New Zealand professional men's basketball team based in Nelson, New Zealand, Nelson. The Giants compete in the National Basketball League (New Zealand), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the T ...

. In November 2017, Prewster signed with Paderborn Baskets of the German

ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

. In 21 games, he averaged 7.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. In April 2018, Prewster joined the Hawke's Bay Hawks for the 2018 New Zealand NBL season. In October 2018, he re-signed with the Hawks for the 2019 season. In February 2020, Prewster signed with the Wellington Saints for the 2020 New Zealand NBL season, returning to the franchise for a third stint. However, the Saints withdrew from the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In November 2020, he re-signed with the Saints for the 2021 season. For the season, he was named league MVP, Most Outstanding Guard, Most Outstanding NZ Guard, Defensive Player of the Year and All-Star Five. The Saints' semi-final against the Auckland Huskies on 22 July 2021, Prewster recorded 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 99–73 win. On 20 July 2021, Prewster signed with Melbourne United for the 2021–22 NBL season. In February 2022, Prewster signed with the Sandringham Sabres for the 2022

NBL1 South NBL1 South is a semi-professional basketball league in Victoria (state), Victoria and Tasmania, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2019, Basketball Victoria partnered with the National Basketball League (Australia), ...

season. On 23 May 2024, Prewster signed with the Wellington Saints for the rest of the

2024 New Zealand NBL season The 2024 NBL season was the 43rd season of the National Basketball League. The competition increased to 11 teams in 2024 with the Tauranga Whai joining the league for the first time. The 2024 season saw the return of a pre-season blitz for the ...

National team career

Prewster captained the Junior Tall Blacks at the

2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championship The 2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Maori: 2009 FIBA I-Raro I Te 19 Tau Toa o Te Ao) was the 9th edition of the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, FIBA U19 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship ...

, where he averaged 10.4 points, 6.6. rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. In July 2015, Prewster earned his first Tall Blacks squad selection for their European tour, Stanković Cup campaign, and

2015 FIBA Oceania Championship The 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship for Men was the 22nd edition of the FIBA Oceania Championship. The tournament featured a two-game series between Australia and New Zealand. It also served as the qualifying tournament of FIBA Oceania for b ...

campaign. He made his FIBA Oceania Championship debut on 18 August in Game 2 of their two-game series loss to Australia, appearing in the final 29 seconds of the match. In February 2020, Prewster played for the Tall Blacks against Guam in the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers. In 2022, Prewster played for the Tall Blacks in the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers. He returned to the Tall Blacks for further qualifiers in 2024.

Coaching career

In 2022, Prewster joined the support staff of the Shimane Susanoo Magic in the Japanese B.League. The following year, he was elevated to an assistant coach role by head coach Paul Henare.

Personal life

Off the court, Prewster earned his degree in teaching.

References

External links

Sydney Kings profile"Dion Prewster thriving on new NBL challenge with Nelson Giants"
at stuff.co.nz {{DEFAULTSORT:Prewster, Dion 1990 births Living people American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Samoan descent Hawke's Bay Hawks players Melbourne United players Nelson Giants players New Zealand men's basketball players New Zealand people of African-American descent New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent San Jacinto Central Ravens men's basketball players Shooting guards Small forwards Southland Sharks players Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball players Sydney Kings players Wellington Saints players Iowa City High School alumni 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen