River Lions ink Canadian Alonzo Walker
The Niagara River Lions have added another Canadian to their roster for the 2022 Canadian Elite Basketball League season.
This time, the addition to the squad is a newcomer to the organization, 6-foot-6, 210-pound forward Alonzo Walker. The Brampton native is currently playing overseas for BC Prievidza of the Slovenská Basketbalová Liga (SBL) in Slovakia. In 18 games played with BC Prievidza, the 25-year-old is averaging 13.3 points and a team-leading 9.8 rebounds per game. His season with BC Prievidza included a memorable douvle-double game where he had career highs in both points (31) and rebounds (20).
“We are excited to have Alonzo on our roster. He is an athletic, versatile player with loads of potential,” said Antwi Atuahene, Niagara’s co-general manager and head of basketball operations. “Alonzo is an extremely hard worker with great leadership qualities and we are looking for him to make a huge impact this season.”
Walker is the fifth player signed for the upcoming season by the River Lions this season, joining import Tidjan Keita and fellow Canadians Daniel Waldin-Mullings, Jaylen Babb-Harrison and Jake Babic.
“I am excited to come home and play in the CEBL this year as it has been a long time since I have played organized basketball in Canada,” Walker said. “My biggest goal for this season is to help the Niagara River Lions become this year’s CEBL champions.”
The product of the Orangeville Prep Athlete Institute, who played at Orangeville with 2016 NBA lottery picks Jamal Murray and Thon Maker, started his collegiate basketball career at NCAA Division 1 Kent State University. After redshirting his freshman year, he averaged 10.6 minutes of playing time in 29 games during the 2016-17 season. He played his sophomore season at Odessa College in West Texas and moved to Idaho State University for his junior year. The highlight of his year with Idaho State was a 17-point game in his final appearance with the team. He finished his NCAA career with Portland State, where he averaging 9.9 points and five rebounds for the Vikings.
Walker’s first professional season was spent with Dinamo of the Georgian Superliga in 2020. There, he started 11 of 21 games and averaged 11.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 25.3 minutes per game.
Training camp for the River Lions will open May 15. The River Lions, who went 10-4 in the 2021 regular season and advanced to the championship game, open the 2022 season May 25 on the road in Saskatchewan. Their home opener will be June 3 at the Meridian Centre against the expansion Montreal Alliance.
Season tickets and voucher packs for the recently announced 2022 schedule are on sale now. Visit www.riverlions.ca/seasontickets for more information.
The voucher packs are available in both six-game and 10-game packages. Six-game packs start at $108 and 10-game packs start at $180. The vouchers can be used for any home game and the purchaser is able to use how many vouchers they want to use for each game.
