Marco Alexander

Marco Alexander (born 14 August 1991) is a New Zealand professional basketball player who currently plays for the Super City Rangers of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). After graduating from Rangitoto College in 2009, Alexander studied a Bachelor of Business Administration at Massey University from 2010 to 2014.

Early life

Alexander was born in Skopje, Macedonia on 14 August 1991 to Macedonian parents, Victor and Stefi. He began playing basketball at age 7 and continued to play the sport in Macedonia up until moving to New Zealand at age 12.^[1] Alexander's parents left for New Zealand during the 2001 war, while Alexander and younger brother Borjan arrived in the country two years later. Growing up in Auckland, Alexander played basketball, soccer, volleyball, water polo and athletics.^[2] He graduated from Rangitoto College in 2009 as the school's all-time leading scorer and subsequently signed with the Auckland Stars for the 2010 New Zealand NBL season. However, the Stars were kicked out of the league prior to the start of the 2010 season and Alexander was left without a team.^[1]

Junior career

Conference Basketball League

In 2009, Alexander played for the New Zealand Breakers Academy in the Conference Basketball League Zone 1.^[3] In 2010, he played for Northside in the Supercity Basketball Competition.^[4] In 2012, he played for the Harbour Heat Reserves in the Senior Intercity Basketball Competition.^[5]

National Championships

At the 2009 Under-19 National Championship, Alexander competed for Harbour. During the third place playoff, Alexander led the way with 29 points in a win over Otago.^[6] At the 2010 Under-21 National Championship, Alexander again competed for Harbour,^[7] going on to be named the tournament MVP.^[8] At the 2011 Under-21 National Championship, Alexander competed for Waikato.^[9] In the six games Waikato played, Alexander averaged a huge 42.6 points per game and in one game, Alexander scored 50 points in a win over Palmerston North. At the 2013 Under-23 National Championship, Alexander competed for North Harbour and was subsequently named to the All-Tournament team.^[10][11]

World University Games

Alexander attended the 2011 Summer University Games in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China^[12] where in seven games, New Zealand won just two. They had tough games in pool play against Russia, Lithuania, Japan and Ukraine, managing to salvage one win out of their pool against the Philippines in which Alexander scored 21 points. He finished the tournament with averages of 15.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2 assists per game.

Professional career

In December 2010, Alexander joined the Waikato Pistons for the 2011 New Zealand NBL season.^[13] He received limited minutes in his first season playing behind Jerry Smith and Jason Crowe.

Following the Pistons' decision to not participate in the 2012 New Zealand NBL season, Alexander joined the Harbour Heat where he played as a sixth man off the bench while starting on a number of occasions. Following the Heat's decision to not participate in the 2013 New Zealand NBL season, Alexander joined the Waikato Pistons, returning to the club for a second stint.^[14] After a successful season with Waikato, he was selected in the 2013 Tall Blacks China Tour extended squad.^[15]

In January 2014, Alexander signed a two-year deal with the Hawke's Bay Hawks.^[1][16] In September 2014, he signed with Melbourne United as a development player for the 2014–15 NBL season.^[17] He made his debut for United on 19 October 2014 against the New Zealand Breakers, but was later sidelined for the rest of the season with a hip injury that required surgery. He subsequently returned to New Zealand and despite the injury, re-joined the Hawks for the 2015 season.^[18]

On 14 February 2016, Alexander signed with the Super City Rangers for the 2016 New Zealand NBL season.^[19]

NBL career statistics

References

External links

• Eurobasket.com profile
• NZNBL stats
• ANBL stats