AJAY LAWTON
Aaron (Ajay) Lawton is an American professional basketball player who has most recently played in the NBL1 East competition for the Central Coast Crusaders. Ajay finished the 2023 season as the league leader in steals, averaging 3.4 steals per game along with an impressive 20.4 points per game on 46.2% field goals. Ajay shot at an inane 3pt clip of 44% and put the rest of the league on notice in the 12 games he played in 2023.
Prior to joining the 2023 NBL1 East Competition, Ajay attended the University of Indianapolis from 2015 - 2018. Ajay had an extremely successful college basketball career where he averaged 14.7 points and 4.5 assists per game as the team's primary point guard in his senior season. Ajay also earned himself numerous league honours over his collegiate career. These include being named in the second-team all-GLVC in 2018 and being named in back to back GLVC All-Defensive first teams in 2017 & 2018.
DANIEL TITUS
Daniel Titus is a particularly special featured athlete as he was born and raised a Central Coast local who worked hard to rise through the local basketball ranks and make it big. Following a stella junior career with the Central Coast Rebels (formerly Gosford City Rebels) and Central Coast Crusaders, Daniel decided to take his talents to college basketball in America. Titus played 2 years of NCAA Division 1 Basketball in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for Coppin State University. Over his 2-year College career he made a name for himself on both ends of the floor, even earning 24 career starts.
More Recently Daniel has returned to Australian basketball, playing for the Gold Coast Rollers in the NBL1 North Competition. In 25 minutes per game, Titus is putting up a solid 10.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, whilst shooting an incredible 52.3% from the field. It was a pleasure to have Daniel on court with us at Courtside Hoops.
DEJAN VASILJEVIC
DEJAN ‘DJ’ VASILJEVIC is an Australian professional basketball player who is currently signed with the both the Adelaide 36ers of the NBL, as well as the Waverly Falcons of the NBL1 South. Before turning pro, DJ attended the University of Miami where he played NCAA Division 1 basketball for the Miami Hurricanes from 2016-2020. DJ scored 1271 points over his college career, ranking 21st on the Hurricanes all time list and he currently sits 2nd on their all time 3-pointers made list with 272.
Following his incredible college career, DJ turned Pro and signed with the Sydney Kings of the NBL. DJ helped to lead the Kings to back-to-back NBL championships over the 2021-22 & 2022-23 seasons. DJ then signed with Adelaide for the 2023-24 NBL season where he was nothing short of remarkable. Vasiljevic has also experienced NBA basketball for the Phoenix Suns (Summer League) and the Washington Wizards (Summer league / pre season), as well as International basketball as a part of the Australian Boomers.
Our first session with DJ was in September of 2023. He was fresh off his back-to-back championships with the Sydney Kings and was preparing to take on the NBA with the Washington Wizards. The boys got some intense work in with the Sharp Shooter after both Alex and Luke helped to coach DJ's basketball showcase earlier that day.
Following his first season with the Adelaide 36ers, DJ headed back down to the Central Coast during his off season. This time around, the boys put him through another vigorous workout to help aid his preparation for the NBL1 South season, as well as his push to be a part of the Australian Olympic team in Paris 2024.