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With the transfer of Terrell Vinson to Baltimore County's St. Frances Academy, the Montrose Christian boys basketball team lost perhaps its best low-post threat. Although standing just 6-foot-6, Vinson routinely plagued opponents around the basket to the tune of 18 points and 10 rebounds per game.

Instead of finding a replacement for Vinson to play 6-8 Villanova (Pa.) commit Isaiah Armwood, Mustangs coach Stu Vetter found an upgrade: 6-10, 260-pound Mouphtaou Yarou. Like Armwood, Yarou has already cast his lot with coach Jay Wright and the Villanova men's basketball program.

The loss of Vinson was harsh and unexpected: he was an integral part of the program for three years. But Yarou has been simply dominant in his first two games at Montrose.

In his debut last Tuesday, the native of the Republic of Benin, in Africa, produced 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks in a 76-28 victory over an athletic Jericho Christian squad. He was even better during Saturday's 77-18 dismantling of Mercersburg Academy (Pa.), dropping in 19 points with 6 more blocks.

"Mouph is developing into one of the best players in the country," Vetter said. "He's got size. He's got quickness and he's got basketball savvy. He knows how to play the game. He's the most dominating big man we've had at Montrose."

Those are strong words coming from Vetter, who has coached his fair share of dominating big men at Montrose. Former North Carolina State forward Levi Watkins, current Florida State forward Uche Echefu (10.6 points per game through Sunday) and Denver Nuggets forward Linas Kleiza (9.7 points through Saturday) are all former Mustangs.

"He just plays hard and he's a very strong, very physical player," Vetter said. "He played soccer in his early days, so that helped him. He has extremely quick feet. Linas Kleiza, who is playing with the Nuggets, [Yarou] is the same type of player."

Yarou didn't pick up the game until his early teenage years and didn't begin playing in the United States until January. His older brother, Khader, introduced him to the game and helped land him both a visa and a spot at the Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Va.

The 6-foot-11 Khader, according to a Sports Illustrated article, had a fledgling basketball career in Europe derailed by a knee injury.

After a sterling summer with the D.C. Blue Devils AAU squad, where he played alongside Montrose teammate Dominic Milburn and Georgetown Prep junior Markel Starks, Yarou's physical prowess and all-around skills caught the attention of numerous college programs. He first began to draw looks following a solid showing at the Nike Memorial Day Classic in Nashville, Tenn. last May. There, he produced 22 points and 12 rebounds against 6-10 University of Alabama-Birmingham signee DeMarcus Cousins.

The attention led him to Montrose Christian, where Vetter and his staff have prepared countless high school players for the rigors of college basketball with a program that mirrors many used at the next level.

"Montrose is a good program and Coach Vetter is an excellent coach," Yarou said. "He develops a lot of players for college, so I decided to come here. My teammates from my AAU team told me about this place."

Before beginning classes at Montrose, Yarou committed to Villanova in late August, spurning offers from Virginia Tech, New Mexico State, Connecticut, Georgetown, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John's and Vanderbilt, according to recruiting databases such as Rivals.com. His reasons for choosing Villanova include "the academic program" and "I would like to play for a point guard like [Wildcats sophomore] Corey Fisher and [junior] Scottie Reynolds."

There's no question that his current teammates like playing with Yarou.

"He opens up my game more and he helps the team because we have one more big guy underneath to rebound," said Montrose junior guard Terrence Ross, who transferred to the Rockville private school from Oregon this year.