By DAVE GUFFEY for GoGriz.com
University of Montana men’s basketball head coach Wayne Tinkle has signed a high school standout from Australia to a National Letter of Intent.
Montana’s newest addition is post player Fabijan Krslovic (pronounced fay-be-an…Kriz-low-vick) from St. Aloysius College (a high school), located in Milsons Point a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sidney in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
Krslovic is the Grizzlies’ third hoop signee. He joins guard Jermaine Edmonds Jr., who signed to play at Montana yesterday, along with center Bryden Boehning (pronounced: Bay-ning) from Dawson County High School in Glendive, who signed an early National Letter of Intent to play for the Grizzlies last November.
Krslovic, a 6-8, 225-pounder, is currently playing with the Norths Bears in the Australia Stat League, where he is averaging 8.0 points, 5.0 rebounds a game, and 3.2 blocked shots a game.
He has represented his country in the 2013 U19 World Championships, but was injured and unable to play in the World Championships in Prague. He also played for Australia’s Under 17 National Team the year before, which garnered a Silver Medal and placed second. Krslovic has been a regular representing his country the past few years, competing for the Oceanic Cup played against New Zealand in the NSW Metropolitan State teams.
“We are thrilled to be adding Fabijan to our program,” Tinkle said. “He’s kind of a throw-back kind of player and brings a lot of toughness. He’s a physical, 6-8 post, who plays with a lot of intensity and a high level of competitiveness. He’s skilled offensively, away from the basket as well as in the paint. We really think that he’s going to help to step up our level of physicality in the post.
“We are very familiar with over the last couple of years with our recruitment of Jack Lopez (a sophomore guard-forward at UM from Woronora, Australia) – they played on the same junior national team in Australia,” Tinkle said. “He will help us in rebounding as well, which is what we need. How much he plays right away we’re not sure yet, but I know practices are going to be a lot more competitive, and he’s going to help our posts get tougher.
“Adding Fabian with Bryden Boehning, a 6-10 post, we are really excited about the young size that we have in our program,” Tinkle said. “We know that the will develop into some dominate players moving forward. We’ve added size, strength, toughness, and skill to our inside game. We are excited about our future when you add those players with our returners, and our other recent signee, Jermaine.”
Last season Edmonds Jr., a 6-5, 200-pounder, averaged 14.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.6 assists as a freshman for head coach Steve Coccimiglio at DVC. He shot 47.0% from the floor and 40.5% from three-point range. He was a high school teammate of Griz starting point guard Mario Dunn at Salesian High School in Richmond, Calif.
Boehning, a 6-10, 230-pound center, averaged around 15 points and 11 rebounds a game the past two seasons at Dawson County HS. He’s been a first team all-state pick the past two seasons. Boehning hopes to follow the lead of former Glendive natives Roger Fasting and Derek Selvig who had stellar careers at UM.
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