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High School athlete turns out to be 30

Posted at 1:26 PM, Apr 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-22 13:58:57-04

Jonathan Nicola, was a 17-year-old high school basketball star for Windsor's Central Catholic Comets - or so they thought.

Turns out, he's actually a 30-year-old man.

The South Sudanese native is in Canada on a student visa, and was reportedly living with the basketball coach - until customs found out and stopped the apparent fraud.

Shocked parents and grandparents outside the catholic school reacted when told of the story by Detroit's WXYZ-TV.

"That's like me having a pee wee team and bringing Willie Horton in, ya know," chuckled one grandfather of a student.

Seems like someone must have known. But nobody said anything for the whole last season, in which the 6 ft 9, 202 pound man played countless games - games that may now be in question.

"He was on the basketball team; we needed him, ya know?" joked another parent.

The team has dominated the area in recent years parents say.

The scandal is the talk of student athletes.

"When he was here he was really nice," said a fellow student.

But when we confronted members of the basketball team, they closed ranks.

"No comment," team members repeatedly said when asked about the scandal.

The school and Canadian officials are remaining tight lipped on this. Nicola remains in custody awaiting immigration hearings.