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Photo by Nick Brancaccio / Windsor Star

Nicola had a detention review Tuesday before the Immigration and Refugee Board, which decided he should remain in custody. There is another hearing scheduled for next week.

When asked if there was concern over the thought of a grown man posing as a teenager in one of the board’s schools, Fields said he wouldn’t comment specifically on the Nicola case.

“Generally I can tell you that we have a system of checks and balances in place that whenever international students are coming into any of our schools, we make sure that they have all of the necessary government documentation that they require in order to be in one of our schools,” said Fields.

He also wouldn’t discuss whether the board plans to alert students and parents about the situation.

“Again, generally speaking, if we felt at any time that there is any kind of threat to any of our students at any of our schools, then we would act appropriately,” said Fields.

Photo by Nick Brancaccio / Windsor Star

Nicola, at six-foot-nine and 202 pounds with a shoe size of 16, had been attending Catholic Central as a 17-year-old Grade 11 student. He was also a star on the Catholic Central Comets senior boys’ basketball team.

He was even living with Comets head coach Pete Cusumano through a program called Canada Homestay, which finds homes for foreign students.

Cusumano said Wednesday he wasn’t allowed to talk about the situation.

But back in January, Cusumano told the Star in an interview for a feature story that Nicola was so good for a young ballplayer that he had a shot at going to the NBA.