Volcano Vista star Aguino headed for Big Sky country

It wasn’t all that long ago that the University of Montana fixed in on Kenyon Aguino.

But the Grizzlies were the winners Friday, as Volcano Vista’s 6-foot-7 forward, New Mexico’s two-time Gatorade Player of the Year, chose Montana as his college destination.

“You know, I just had a tremendous belief in their coaching staff, they had a bunch of belief in me,” Aguino said following his announcement at Volcano Vista on Friday afternoon. “I had the most trust and felt the most comfort with them.”

Penn, Northern Colorado and New Mexico State were the other finalists, Aguino said.

Montana first latched on to Aguino at the prominent Section 7 prep event in Glendale, Arizona, less than four months ago.

He said the Grizzlies of the Big Sky Conference, who were 24-12 last season, stayed in constant and consistent communication with him since then.

He took an official visit to the Missoula campus in late August.

“A really cool, nice little city,” Aguino said. “The program is super good, coach (Travis) DeCuire has a winning program, which was really important.”

Aguino averaged 22.7 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks last season. He said he expects to play a combination of the 3 and 4 at the Division I level.

“The biggest thing, is the transition (to the) physicality and speed, getting used to that,” Aguino said, adding, “I saw myself being able to do really good in that spot.”

Former Los Lunas standout Jalin Holland last week chose the University of Colorado.

Aguino frequently is an unstoppable force on the low post for the Hawks, using his size and frame and touch to score, draw contact and facilitate.

Next month, he and the Hawks begin an unprecedented (for an Albuquerque large division program) quest for a fourth straight blue trophy.

The previous three trophies were on a desk in front of him as he announced Friday.

“Now that I’ve decided, it feels really good,” he said.

New Mexico State was the first D1 program to offer Aguino, although the Aggies have been in turmoil of late.

“Really great program, really great coaches … it was nothing against them, but Montana felt like the better fit for me,” Aguino said.