The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SUCCESS at the pro level came almost immediately for Bahamian basketball player Kevin Altidor.

Altidor and his Gijon Basket 2015 club claimed the championship title of the Spanish Primera Nacional basketball league and with the win, received promotion to the EBA League.

In his first season with the club, Altidor made an immediate impact and that continued in the finale when he scored 17 points in his team’s 77-50 win over Castrillon.

After a closely contested first half, Gijon broke the game wide open in the third quarter with a 17-2 run. They took a 64-36 lead into the fourth and easily held on down the stretch to secure the win and advancement.

Altidor, a 6’5” forward originally from Marsh Harbour, Abaco, played collegiately at Roane State Community College and later with the  Young Harris College Mountain Lions.

Altidor played two seasons for the Mountain Lions (2013-15), averaging 14.1 points and 7.9 rebounds in 53 games with 67 blocked shots and 73 steals. He averaged 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds as the Mountain Lions advanced to the semi-finals of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament last year where he was named to the All-tournament team.

Altidor attended Abaco Central High School before concluding his high school career with the CC Sweeting Cobras.

In an interview with the Abaconian during his JuCo tenure at Roane, Altidor cited incidents in his childhood neighbourhood of Pigeon Pea as the motivation to further his education through basketball and escape negative surroundings.

“Every day in the gym, I thought about it [the incident], about wanting to make a person out of myself. It drove me to try to make it. I was willing to go the extra mile, even try for the NBA.” He said: “I want to be an example for all the younger kids growing up in the Mud or in the Peas.”

Altidor joined the Spanish club in November 2015 and the team was in the midst of a middling 0-4 start to the season.

The Primera Division is the fifth level in the Spanish league with the best teams promoted to Liga EBA.