Ben Hunt (born 6 June 1978) is an Australian former professional basketball player. He began his basketball career in the

SEABL The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was an Australian semi-professional basketball league. The league comprised both a men's and women's competition and was run by the country's governing body, Basketball Australia. The league wa ...

with the

Bendigo Braves Bendigo Braves is a NBL1 South club based in Bendigo, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of the overarching Bendigo Braves Basketball Club, the major administrative basketball organi ...

before playing four years of

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

in the United States. He then had a two-year stint in the National Basketball League (NBL) with 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 (NBL) and play their home games at RAC Arena, known colloquially as "The Jungle". Afte ...

Early life and career

Hunt was born in

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, and attended

Bendigo Senior Secondary College Bendigo Senior Secondary College (BSSC), is an Australian government-funded co-educational secondary school for Year 11 and Year 12 students located in the centre of Bendigo, Victoria. It is the largest provider of VCE, VET and VCAL in the stat ...

. He made his debut for the

in the

in 1994. He played every year for the Braves until 2001. He earned All-SEABL South Conference Team honours in 2000 and 2001, and was named the SEABL South Conference Youth Player of the Year in 2000.

College career

Between 2001 and 2003, Hunt played Division I college basketball in the United States for the

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks are composed of 16 teams representing Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in intercollegiate athletics. Stephen F. Austin teams participate in the Division I as a member of the Western Athle ...

. In 57 games over two seasons, he averaged 6.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Hunt returned to Australia in 2003 and played a ninth season for the Braves. In 2004, he left the Braves and played the SEABL season with the

Ballarat Miners The Ballarat Miners are an Australian basketball team based in Ballarat, Victoria. The Miners compete in the Women’s and Men's NBL1 South and play their home games at the Selkirk Stadium. The team is affiliated with Ballarat Basketball Associ ...

. Hunt returned to the United States in 2004 to play his final two college seasons at

Texas Wesleyan University Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is th ...

of the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA). With the Rams, Hunt earned first-team All-RRAC in both 2004–05 and 2005–06, to go with winning Co-Player of the Year in 2005–06. He was also second-team All-American, All-NAIA National Tournament and Texas Wesleyan Athlete of the Year in 2005–06. He led the Rams to the 2006 NAIA Division 1 national championship, scoring a career-high 34 points and hitting the game winning shot in the title game.

Professional career

In March 2006, Hunt had an unsuccessful trial with the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

. He received another opportunity with the Mavericks in July 2006 when he joined the team for the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

. Following his Summer League stint, Hunt returned to Australia and joined the

for the

2006–07 NBL season The 2006–07 NBL season was the 29th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. For the first time, a team was established from outside the Australasian area, with the Singapore Slingers taking over the licence of the Hunter Pirates. ...

. In his rookie season, he averaged 3.6 points in 30 games. He remained in Perth during the 2007 off-season and played for the

Willetton Tigers Willetton Tigers is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Willetton Basketball Association (WBA), the major administrative basketball organ ...

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), where he earned SBL All Star Second Team honours. With the Wildcats in 2007–08, he averaged 4.3 points in 31 games. A

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

for his entire career, Hunt took on the challenge of

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

during his second season with the Wildcats. Following the NBL season, he re-joined the Willetton Tigers for the SBL season, where he earned SBL All Star Third Team honours.

National team career

In 2005, Hunt played for the Australian University National Team at the

Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

, Turkey. He scored a game-high 28 points in a quarter-final loss to the United States.

Personal life

Hunt is the son of Peter and Ricki, and he has an older brother, Josh. Hunt is married to wife Erin.

References

External links

NBL player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Ben 1978 births Living people Australian men's basketball players Perth Wildcats players Sportspeople from Bendigo Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball players Texas Wesleyan Rams men's basketball players