One morning last spring, Gregory Dole received a call from a friend with whom he'd played high school basketball in Tanzania nearly two decades ago.

Deng D'Awol asked Dole for help finding a school in Canada that would be interested in a 16-year-old basketball phenom he'd discovered in war-weary South Sudan.

"Deng told me, 'There's this amazing kid I want to help get a scholarship,'" Dole told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. "He told me this kid is the best player he's seen in Eastern Africa. He told me this kid reminds him of a young Kevin Durant.' When someone says that, your ears tend to perk up."

Such sky-high praise typically would have inspired skepticism in basketball circles, but Dole trusted his friend's assessment. After all, Deng is a 7-foot-1 center who set shot-blocking records at NAIA Wayland Baptist University, played professionally in the American Basketball Association and overseas and now helps coach and train kids in his native South Sudan.

Dole reached out to a longtime high school coach in Windsor. Catholic Central coach Pete Cusumano agreed to not only take the 6-foot-9 center on his team but also house him for the remainder of his high school career. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until Dole and Cusumano learned that Jonathon Nicola may only be posing as a teenager.

Nicola was arrested last Friday by Canadian border officers for allegedly misrepresenting his age on his application ‎for a study permit for Canada, the Windsor Star first reported Wednesday night. Yahoo Sports confirmed on Thursday that Canadian authorities have evidence Nicola may actually be 12 years older than he purported to be.

When Nicola arrived in Canada last November, his passport indicated his date of birth was Nov. 25, 1998, as did his application for a Canadian study abroad permit. The Canada Border Service Agency flagged Nicola when he tried to enter Michigan last Friday because a fingerprint match revealed he was the same person who had previously applied to visit the U.S. using a date of birth of Nov. 1, 1986.



"Mr. Nicola‘s date of birth was determined to be November 1, 1986 following his application for a U.S. visitor visa," said Anna Pape of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. Pape added that Nicola is being detained until his next admissibility hearing on Tuesday "on the grounds that he presents a flight risk."



While the notion of a 29-year-old man posing as a high school junior has to be terrifying to everyone at Catholic Central, school officials thus far are staying tight-lipped. Cusumano told Yahoo Sports on Thursday that he is "not allowed to comment," citing a directive from the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board.

School board spokesman Stephen Fields told Yahoo Sports he would not comment specifically on Nicola's arrest because the case is ongoing. Speaking in general terms, Fields cited the "rigorous system" the school board has in place requiring international students to present valid government documentation — passports and study permits — before they can be enrolled.

Among the few at Catholic Central to address the saga publicly was Richie Akinsanya, a senior point guard on the school's basketball team. Akinsanya tweeted in support of Nicola on Wednesday night, writing "If you were in a war torn country and were given an opportunity to get out, you'd take it in a heartbeat too."

The prospect of a fresh start in a new country had to be very appealing to Nicola. Residents of conflict-stricken South Sudan face ongoing civil war, frequent food shortages and unfathomable poverty.

When D'Awol first saw Nicola play last spring at a tournament in South Sudan's capital city of Juba, he asked to speak with Nicola's mother about the possibility of helping her son find a scholarship opportunity overseas. The scene D'Awol found at Nicola's house was tragic yet typical for South Sudan.

D'Awol estimated that Nicola and as many as 30 relatives lived in one house with just four or five bedrooms. One of the few members of the family with a full-time job was Nicola's father, a petroleum engineer who works primarily in the Middle East and sends home as much money as he can.

"He comes from a poor family," D'Awol told Yahoo Sports. "They all stay in one house including uncles, aunts, their children and their children's children. And the whole household is supported by an individual or two. That's basically the reality for about 85 percent of people in South Sudan."

Story continues