(Editor's note: Montana State University media releases)
BOZEMAN -- Montana State men's basketball head coach Danny Sprinkle recently announced that Abdul Mohamed signed a financial aid agreement to join the program for the 2020-21 season and the program received a National Letter of Intent from incoming freshman Kellen Tynes.
Mohamed attended North Texas for two years, suiting up this previous season after redshirting during the 2018-19 slate. He spent his first two years of college eligibility at Gillette College. He will be eligible for Montana State this upcoming season.
"Abdul is close to 6-foot-8, super long, athletic and he's a really skilled player," Sprinkle said. "He brings tremendous versatility to our team. There's not a lot of guys like him in our league with his size and length that can kind of do the things he does. He can rebound the ball, he can pass it, he's got a really good feel for the game."
Mohamed was named an NJCAA third team All-American and was selected to the All-Region IX Team during his sophomore season at Gillette College. He averaged 15.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for a team that finished 27-5 overall. During that season, he scored a career-high 32 points in a game against Little Big Horn. He finished the year with 63 3-pointers made while scoring 20 points or more seven times.
The Ottawa, Ontario, native was a contributor the season prior as a freshman. He averaged nearly 13 points and 6 rebounds per game. He also shot 47.1% from the field and 39.5% from the 3-point line to help Gillette College finish 32-4 overall.
Mohamed played in 15 games as a junior at North Texas which won the Conference USA 2019-20 regular season title.
"There's a reason why he was a Junior College All-American at Gillette under Shawn Neary who did a tremendous job with him," Sprinkle said. "He went to North Texas and got injured his first year and was on a tremendously talented team this year. They had some great players at his position, but I spoke with their coaches and they raved about how good of a player and person he is.
"I recruited him when I was at CSU Fullerton out of Gillette, Chris Haslam knew him from recruiting him from Gillette and Dan Russell coached against him (at Casper College). We were very comfortable with Abdul and he was comfortable with us before he even decided to come here."
Tynes has been a standout for Rothesay Netherwood School in Canada the last two years. Tynes has attended and played for the prep school in Rothesay, New Brunswick, earning selections to the National Preparatory Association All Star 1st Team in consecutive seasons. He led the program to a 12-0 record this year before the season was cut short and garnered the NPA's Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year awards in the process.
"He's a talented kid," Sprinkle said. "He's still growing and needs to put on a little weight, but he's just one of those young guys that I think will be a terrific player. He was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year in their league up there which I love.
"Playing against some of the best talent even at the AAU level, his defensive instincts and his anticipation skills are elite. He really takes pride on the defensive end of the floor which I like. I recruited that Toronto area the last few years and everybody I've talked to there loves him. We're super excited about him. He's an unbelievable student. He's went to a very high-level high school and is basically taking the equivalent of all AP classes. He's an unbelievable fit for what we're looking for in our program, university and community."
During the 2019-20 schedule, Tynes averaged 22 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. He ranked fourth in the league in both scoring and assists, while he led the NPA in steals with 4.7 per contest. He had single-game highs of 28 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists this past season.
Tynes also played for the school during its 2018-19 schedule. He led the team in scoring by registering 29 points per game behind 50% shooting. He recorded 8.4 rebounds per game and 4.1 assists. He was a member of the Northern Kings AAU team that won the UA Rise Circuit Championship in Atlanta this past summer, while he earned honorable mention all-tournament honors.
"He played on a really great AAU program Northern Kings and his high school coach, Damian Gay, did a really good job working with him," Sprinkle said. "Obviously with Kellen and Tyler Patterson coming in as freshmen, you have great length and two guys that are really committed to defense. Offensively they're both really talented too. Kellyn is going to keep getting better every year."
The Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, native has played in several noteworthy Canada Showcase games. He was named the Junior Male Athlete of the Year in 2019 by Sport Nova Scotia.
The Bobcats are currently set to have six newcomers join the program heading into the 2020-21 season. Mike Hood and Tyler Patterson previously signed with the Montana State men's basketball team during the early period that ran from Nov. 13-20, 2019. Incoming junior Bilal Shabazz and sophomore Nick Gazelas signed with Montana State on Wednesday.