The SMU men’s basketball team recently received a verbal commitment from 6-foot-11 high school senior Julius Omoniurhie, according to several online college recruiting services.

Omoniurhie, who attends Good Counsel High School (Md.), was offered scholarships by Texas Christian and Binghamton and drew interest from Penn State, South Florida and North Carolina State.

Omoniurhie is originally from Nigeria, which could make him the fourth Africa native to join the Mustangs in the last several years. Senior center Bamba Fall, junior forward Mouhammad Faye and sophomore forward Papa Dia are originally from Senegal.

If Omoniurhie makes his commitment official during the early signing period, which begins Nov. 12, the Mustangs will be left with only one available scholarship for 2009.

SMU appears to have keyed on finding a replacement for Fall, who graduates this spring. Dia is the only other post player who has received significant playing time, and 7-1 sophomore Tomasz Kwiatkowski is the only other center on the Mustangs’ 2008 roster.

Recruiting Web site Scout.com reports that SMU has offered 6-8 forward Andy Brown, from Mater Dei High School (Calif.), a scholarship, though he has not yet accepted. Scout gave the forward a three-star ranking on a five-star scale.