6'9" High School Basketball Player Is Believed to Actually Be 29 Years Old

At 6'9" and 202 pounds, Jonathan Nicola has the build to make him a dominant force in high school basketball.

However, he is now facing allegations that he is in fact a 30-year-old, which would certainly put his dominance into perspective.

According to Trevor Wilhelm of the Windsor Star, Nicola has allegedly been posing as a 17-year-old 11th-grader at Catholic Central High School (Windsor, Ontario) for the past six months. And basketball is the least of his concerns right now.

Nicola—who had been living with the Comets' coach through the Canada Homestay program—was recently arrested for violating the Immigration Refugee Protection Act. It's not clear what exactly he is being accused of, but he is being detained and will have a hearing next week.

Update from Wednesday, April 27

According to Nicholas Keung of the Hamilton Spectator, Nicola denied at a detention review that he knew that he was not a teenager. So who's to blame then? Supposedly his mother, whom he says is "really sick."

"I always keep asking what is the specific age that I was born, and she has told me that she could not remember," Nicola said, per Keung. "Over (in South Sudan)...not every year we study...we always keep moving to different schools, and over there, they do not ask your age. They do not ask you nothing."

It has since reportedly been determined that Nicola is 29 years old. Some may wonder how somebody can be alive that long and not realize they are nearly twice as old as their peers, but he says that he is not a "liar person."

"I did not came [sic] here to harm any people or do something bad," Nicola said, per Keung. "All my goal is to study and get the education, so I can go back home, I can help my mother, I can help all my rest of the family."

Nicola has been able to give his side of this bizarre story. Now, he must wait and see what his fate will be. 

--End of Update--

[Windsor Star, h/t Deadspin]