Grand Bahamian Paul Greene Jr commits to the UMBC Retrievers
By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
AFTER leading the Southern New Hampshire University men’s Penmen basketball team to their second straight NE10 Championship tournament crown, Grand Bahamian guard Paul Greene Jr is moving on to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Greene, the son of Paul Sr and Shantel Greene, is a graduate of St George’s High School where he starred for the Jaguars’ senior boys team, coached by Darrell Sears.
He spent the past two years performing at a high level for the Penmen. The business major went on to excel on the basketball court, helping SNHU to their repeat championship title.
As he moves from SNHU, Greene Jr hopes to continue the trend of success for the Retrievers when he reports to UMBC in July to join their 2025/26 men’s roster as they compete in the NCAA America East Conference.
“My plan is to continue what I’ve been doing. I plan to work out during the off season and just get stronger and improve my weaknesses that I have and to look forward to another good year,” Greene Jr said.
While he will graduate in December from SNHU having completed his academics a little early, Greene Jr said when he visited UMBC, he found out that they were similar in nature but, more importantly, they were more interested in what he had to offer.
“Shout out to SNHU and all my coaches and teammates,” Greene Jr said.
“They all helped me to prevail and there’s nothing like winning, so thank God for that.
“I realised along the way in being successful, you have to love those who love you and appreciate those who are there with you through your ups and downs because there’s times when you needed them and they were there.”
In his two years there, Greene Jr helped the Penmen to repeat as champions, but he admitted that
the second time around was much sweeter than the first.
“Last year, I had a role to play and I think I did it to the best of my ability,” he recalled.
“But this year, I saw what we needed to do to be successful and I made the sacrifice to get it done.”
Now that he’s done with the Penmen, Greene Jr wants to move on to the Retrievers where he expects to live up to their expectations for him to be a winner again.
“We are looking for me to be a dawg, to help elevate the programme to be a force to reckon with,” he stated.
Before heading off to the United States to continue his education, Greene Jr said he will never forget the experience he had at St George’s where coach Sears helped to mould his future.
“I will never take it for granted. It was a lot of fun. Coach Sears was always one of those energetic persons, who motivated you,” he said.
“He and the rest of the coaching staff, as well as the teachers at St George’s helped to prepare me for the man that I am today.
“I want to thank the man above, my mother, my siblings and my past and present coaches and
team-mates and anybody else who was a part of the journey.”
According to Sears, considered to be a hard-nose coach who only demands the best from his players, Greene Jr left his mark on his Jaguars programme at St George’s.
“We try to build the whole man, not just athletics, but academically and spiritually,” Sears said.
“Paul has always shown the drive to succeed and was a very good student.
“He was a little smaller than most guards, so he played the point in high school, but he grew and is now able to play at the wing as a guard or a small forward.”
During one of their storied trips to New Providence to participate, Sears said he clearly remembers how during the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic in 2019, they had to play double overtime in the final against Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins, Greene Jr suffered an injury to his wrist.
“He wanted to go back out on the court, but I told him we were not going to risk his future for a short term success,” Sears said.
“Not taking anything away from Doris, we knew we could beat them. “But
four weeks later in Grand Bahama at the Nationals, we lost the first game to Gateway, who at the time had VJ Edgecombe on their team. It looked like we were going to get knocked out of the tournament. Then something happened.” Greene Jr, wearing a cast on his hand at the time, took it off and he played the rest of the tournament for the Jaguars, who went on to win six straight games as they prevailed with the title.
He was named the most valuable player.
Before he was done at SNHU, Greene Jr earned the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) East All-District Second Team honours. Greene Jr, 23, had a terrific season for the Penmen, averaging 13.8 points per game and 12.1 rebounds per game. He scored a seasonhigh 27 points in a 78-70 win over rival Saint Anselm College in the Northeast-10 Championship quarterfinals on March 2. His top rebounding effort was 20 on November 20 against Southern
Connecticut State. Greene Jr recorded 20 double doubles during the campaign. Greene Jr, a 6-6 swingman, improved from scoring 4.5 points and 5.7 rebounds in his first year with the Penmen programme in 2023-24. While he does not know what his future looks like, Greene Jr said he would love to one day be able to play on the men’s national basketball team, especially in their quest to qualify for the Olympic Games, hopefully in 2028 in Los Angeles, California.
TOP SAILOR PAUL DE SOUZA LOOKING AHEAD TO THE OLYMPIC CYCLE
“I know I’ve really gotten started, but it’s been good. In the past three months,” he said. “I started training and so far it’s been good. I hope to do the Olympic campaign in this cycle.”
Unlike Higgins, who has been around the world training and competing, de Souza has only returned to competitive competition over the last three months and he has been able to do all of his training right here at home.
“I want to see how good I can get. In the next several months,” de Souza said.
“If I feel like I am in a position where I feel like I can continue the campaign, I will continue.
“But I’m playing it by ear seeing how my fitness progresses and how my sailing progresses.”
As he competed for his third straight national title this weekend, he said he surprised himself by his performance.
“I may have underestimated my base knowledge that I had in sailing or overestimated the amount of
technical work that I had to do in the boat to catch up with modern technology,” he pointed out.
“Not what I was using was too far away. It was only about 10 years ago., but it’s been a while since I competed at that level and obviously there are some new things that people buy and so wearing some of the new stuff, that I have to get used to.
“I think I did pretty well against the guys who are doing this full time.”
At the nationals, de Souza only lost out to Marques, a Portugal Olympian, who took advantage of his training session in The Bahamas.
But he beat out Higgins, whose training base has been in Europe over the past two years.
“This is the first time that I competed against Joshua. We trained once or twice before, but I’m hoping this summer when he returns to train here a little more, we can train a little more and bounce off each other’s ideas,” de Souza said.
“We’re pretty good on both ends of the spectrum. There’s some things that he’s pretty good at that I am not good at and there are some things that I’m good at that he’s not. I think if we are able to train together, we will be able to complement each other.”
With only one spot on the team, once the Bahamas qualifies, de Souza said he and Higgins will have to wait on the BSA to make
the final decision on who will go once they have a sail off.
“I’ve been doing a lot of coaching for the past two years, but I ended up doing an office job recently and that was when I decided to go back out and start training again. “I wanted to be
able to match the physicality of the other sailors, training at least four days a week to spend some time in the boat,” said de Souza, who still assists with the youth sailing programme as a coach. “This summer, I plan to go to the Olympic Class Regatta in Long
Beach, California, which should be good because a lot of the youth sailors have to go there to compete in the North American Youth Championships at the same time.
“So it would be nice to see them on the water and myself on the water as we
push ourselves to see how much we have learned over the past few months. So it should be fun.”
De Souza expressed his gratitude to the Nassau Sailing School for allowing him to train as much as he can and to the Lyford Cay Club coach Niels Broekhuizen for taking the time out to train him.
“Coming into the nationals, I didn’t know what to expect, competing against the visiting Olympian and even Josh,” de Souza said.
“So it was a bit nerveracking going into the event.
“When you are sailing at home, you don’t really know what to expect at the international level, so I was very pleased with my performance.
“I just need to get some more training and some competition overseas and I should be okay.”
The former student of St Andrew’s School, who started competing at the age of 10 and has represented The Bahamas in numerous international competitions, went on to complete his studies at the College of Charleston where he majored in international business with a minor in French.
Now that he’s back in competitive form, he thanked his deceased aunt, Joanne ‘Joei’ Arana, for leaving him with financial support to go along with the support from his parents Dr Kathryn and Dr Pablo de Souza.
PAUL de Souza in action.
GRAND Bahamian guard Paul Greene Jr.
Gold sponsors step up for the inaugural UB Mingoes golf tournament
FOUR gold-level sponsors have stepped up to help tee off The University of The Bahamas Mingoes programme’s inaugural Golf Invitational at The Royal Blue Golf Course at Baha Mar on May 18.
The invitational not only serves as a fundraiser for the golf programme at the university but also to garner support for the programme that is rapidly developing.
Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited (Fidelity), Lightbourn Trading, Blue Marlin, and Tyreflex Star Motors have committed to being gold level sponsors for the Mingoes Golf Invitational that will assist the men’s and women’s golf team at UB.
In addition to the multitude of prizes up for grabs, the golfer with a hole-inone on hole 12 wins a 2024 Mercedes-Benz C-200 sponsored by Tyreflex Star Motors.
The tournament, which is powered by Leno, is set for a 2pm start at Baha Mar’s Royal Blue golf course. And it will follow a shot-gun start.
Registration is on-going and persons may reach out to UB Athletics, Gina Gonzales-Rolle, tournament organiser or Fred Taylor, UB golf coach.
PICTURED at the presentation: UB golfer Payton Haye, Fidelity Bank Bahamas collections officer Francis Adderley, UB Athletics director Kimberley Rolle and UB golfer Travis Cartwright.
Photos: UB Athletics
Grand Bahama Sports Complex May 16-17.
The event is open to competitors from throughout The Bahamas. The action is slated to begin at 5pm on Friday, May 16 and at 10am on Saturday, May 16. It promises to provide fast competition, perfect prep for championship season and an unmatched island atmosphere in Grand Bahama.
For more information on the meet, persons can email fasttrackmanagement00@ gmail.com
SOCCER MEN’S LEAGUE
PLAY THE Bahamas Football Association men’s soccer league play is expected to be carried live on FIFA with the following matches on tap at the Roscoe Davies Developmental Center.
Wednesday
7:15pm - WWR Gladiators vs Future Stars.
Sunday 7pm - Dynamos Football Club vs WWR Titans. The matches can be seen live at bahamas.net/fifaplus.
BASKETBALL DARRELL SEARS SHOWCASE GRAND Bahamian basketball coach Darrell Sears is scheduled to host a basketball showcase May 16-18 at the St George’s Gymnasium. The showcase will run from 6-10pm on day one, 8am to 5pm on day two and 10am to 1pm on the final day. Registration is opened to players in grades 7-12 and unattached with college eligibility. A number of visiting coaches from high school and colleges will be in town from the United States and possibly Canada to conduct the showcase. For more information, persons can call 242-6469557 or 242-533-6374.
SOFTBALL THOMPSON/ WILLIAMS MEMORIAL
SLOW PITCH
TOURNAMENT
THE Friends for Life Committee will host a joint Paul ‘Dingus’ Thompson and Cornelius ‘Money’ Williams Men and co-ed slow pitch invitational tournament over the Labour Day and Whit Monday holiday weekend, June 5-9. The event will be staged at the Grand Bahama
Sporting Complex softball field in Freeport, Grand Bahama and is expected to feature teams from Eleuthera, New Providence, Grand Bahama and the United States of America. For more details, interested persons can email friendsforlife242@ gmail.com
PEACE ON DA STREET
FAMILY NIGHT
PLANS are underway for the staging of the Peace on Da Streets’ Basketball Classics’ Road to 30 years of existence. The event, being organised by the Hope Center under the theme “Shooting hoops instead of guns,” will be held from July 14-19 at the Michael ‘Scooter’ Reid Basketball Center.
The highlight of the event will be the Family Night, scheduled for Sunday, July 20 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium when the finals in all of the divisions will take place, starting at 3pm. There will also be the Mr Ship It Three-point shootout and the Joe’s Slam Dunk Contest. The night will conclude with the exciting Clergy versus Politicians match-up. Lots of prizes, including round trip tickets, will be up for grabs.
FIU FROM PAGE E1
these two young ladies coming in and helping us to push the envelope forward for a championship.”
With the addition of Collins and Lightbourne, Burks-Wiley said she’s excited for FIU, who finished last season with an 11-19 win-loss record, while making their exit in the CUSA Championship Tournament in March with a 73-66 loss to No.3 seed Western Kentucky University.
“I think we will have a good amount of depth and athleticism this year,” she projected. “So, I’m really, really excited. The expectations, as it’s been for the past four years, is to try and win a championship.
“We continue to knock on the door of being right there so hopefully we can continue to be on the hunt for that and to make sure that we do it in the right way.”
While she has multiple international players on the Wildcats’ roster, Burks-Wiley said she’s looking forward to coaching her first two Bahamians. “I’m just
INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Bryson DeChambeau held off a big charge from Charles Howell III with birdies on his last two holes for a 6-under 66 on Sunday for a two-shot victory at LIV Golf Korea, his first title since winning the U.S. Open last summer.
DeChambeau, who played in the final group at the Masters and lost a 36-hole lead at LIV Golf Mexico City last week, started the third and final round at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club with a four-shot lead and was even par for the round through nine holes.
Howell, his Crushers teammate, closed with a 63. They were tied until Howell made a bogey on the 16th hole,
LIV Golf League title since September 2023 and his third overall.
Crushers won the team title by nine shots over Smash.
DeChambeau next joins what likely will be 13 other players from LIV Golf in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club on May 15-18. DeChambeau was runner-up to Xander Schauffele in the PGA Championship last year.
happy to have them joining our team and giving them another chance to showcase their talent,” she stated. “So I’m excited about the opportunity for our programme and the opportunity for these young young ladies.”
Lightbourne, a 5-9 guard who finished her high school at Tallulah Falls, appeared in 15 of the team’s 31 games this season. She averaged 1.2 points and 0.8 rebounds per game and set or tied season-highs with five points, one three, two rebounds, and one assist at GW (2/15/25).
Lightbourne also had four points in a seasonhigh 17 minutes at Rhode Island (2/8/25), but scored a season-high four points and was perfect from the field against Tennessee St. (11/17/24) and made season debut at No. 16 Duke (11/14/24). The electrical engineering major is the daughter of La-Shanda and Deniko Lightbourne and she has two siblings, La-Shae and Deniko. The FIU season is slated to jump off in November. Wildcats play out of Conference USA where they were ranked at number five last season.
At 6-feet, two-inches, the 20-year-old Collins comes in having played 14 games this past season for Ole Miss, averaging 2.9 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. She reached double-figure points two games in a row, including tallying a career-high 12 points against Tennessee State and she set and tied a career high five rebounds against Boston College and Tennessee State. The exercise science major, who was injured and didn’t play during her freshman year, is the daughter of Angela and Steve Collins.
CAPTAIN Bryson DeChambeau of Crushers GC hits his shot from the first tee during the second round of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Saturday, May 3, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Pedro Salado/AP)
UB Mingoes’ mascot Blu and Tyreflex Star Motors and Mercedes Benz operations manager Ryan Knowles show off the prize for the hole-in-one on hole 12 which is a 2024 Mercedes-Benz C-200 coupe.
PICTURED at the gold-level cheque presentation, Mingoes golfer Rachel Quant, Mingoes mascot Blu, Lightbourn Trading Stephen Lightbourn, UB Athletics director Kimberley Rolle and UB golfer Darius Thompson.
D LIGHTBOURNE
RHEMA COLLINS
Inter Milan defeats Barcelona 4-3 after extra time to reach another Champions League final
By DANIELLA MATAR AP Sports Writer
MILAN (AP) — Inter
Milan beat Barcelona 4-3 after extra time in another rollercoaster encounter yesterday to reach a second Champions League final in three years. In the end it took extra time, two astonishing Barcelona fightbacks and 13 goals — some of them mesmerising — to separate the two sides and see Inter prevail 7-6 on aggregate.
Substitute Davide Frattesi was the extra-time hero for Inter, firing home in the 99th minute to leave the
Barcelona players slumped to the ground and all his Nerazzurri teammates — including those on the bench — racing to celebrate with him.
Moments earlier, Frattesi had been encouraging the already loud San Siro crowd to make more noise and the atmosphere grew even more feverish after his strike.
Inter, which lost the final to Manchester City in 2023, will face either Paris SaintGermain or Arsenal in Munich on May 31. PSG beat Arsenal 1-0 in London last week in their first match.
There was little sign of the drama to come at halftime, with Inter comfortably leading 2-0 after Lautaro Martínez scored and earned a penalty, which was converted by Hakan Çalhanoglu.
But Barcelona had been in that position before, having gone 2-0 down early in the first leg last week before securing a thrilling 3-3 draw.
And Eric García scored nine minutes after the break before Dani Olmo headed in the equaliser six minutes later.
Raphina appeared to have secured the win for
Barcelona when he put the Spanish side ahead two minutes before full time, tucking away the rebound after Yann Sommer had saved his initial shot.
However, 37-year-old Francesco Acerbi astonishingly levelled in stoppage time — with his first goal in European competition — to add another 30 minutes onto the tantalising encounter.
Frattesi had proved crucial off the substitutes’ bench before, both for Italy and Inter, and so he was again, controlling Mehdi Taremi’s pass and dummying round Pau
Cubarsí before curling past Wojciech Szczesny.
Barcelona almost levelled in the game again
but Sommer made a fingertip save to push Lamine Yamal’s scoring attempt past his post.
INTER Milan’s Davide Frattesi celebrates after scoring his side’s fourth goal during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Inter Milan and Barcelona at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, yesterday.
(AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Intriguing Colorado Duo
Haliburton’s 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left gives Pacers 120-119 win over Cavs
By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer
CLEVELAND (AP) —
Tyrese Haliburton made a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining and the Indiana Pacers scored the final eight points in 47.9 seconds to stun the short-handed and top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers 120-119 last night to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinals series.
Haliburton scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 12 minutes. After Andrew Nembhard stole an inbounds pass by Cleveland’s Max Strus with 27.5 seconds remaining, Indiana tried to find a potential tying 3-pointer before Haliburton drove inside and got fouled.
He made the first free throw, but missed the second.
Haliburton got the offensive rebound and dribbled out to the 3-point line, where he made it from the top of the key.
Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith led No. 4 seed Indiana with 23 points apiece. It’s the first time the Pacers have won the first two games of a playoff series on the road since a 1994 first-round set against Orlando.
Donovan Mitchell scored 48 points for Cleveland, who were missing three key
THUNDER, CELTICS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK AFTER SERIES-OPENING LOSSES TO KNICKS, NUGGETS
By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer
THE Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder looked very much like the dominant teams they were during the regular season in securing lopsided firstround playoff series wins.
Suddenly, both teams are facing their first dose of adversity this postseason following Game 1 losses to open Round 2. The Celtics missed an NBA playoff-record 45 of their 60 3-pointers and blew a 20-point lead in a 108-105 overtime loss to the New York Knicks.
Meanwhile, the West’s top-seeded Thunder will look to recover after surrendering a 42-point scoring night to Nikola Jokic and 3-pointer to Aaron Gordon in the closing seconds of
their 121-119 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve handled adversity,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Tuesday. “This isn’t the first time we’ve handled adversity in the playoffs. The team has made a great habit of that. We have to continue to do that.”
For Boston, it was a stunning result for a team that was 4-0 against its longtime rival during the regular season.
Most glaring was the Celtics’ performance from beyond the arc in clutch time during Game 1 against the Knicks.
In the clutch, defined as the final five minutes of fourth quarter or overtime when the scoring margin is five points or less, the Celtics were just 1-for-8 from 3.
In their 11 clutch losses during the regular season, Boston shot just 12-for-44 (27.3%) from 3.
Still, coach Joe Mazzulla said it isn’t something that needs a dramatic overcorrection heading into Game 2.
“You have to be able to make open shots,” Mazzulla said yesterday. “If the open ones go in, we’re not having this conversation.”
New York’s Josh Hart is confident their victory wasn’t just courtesy of a fluke shooting night by Boston.
“I think it’s two-fold, right? Because I don’t think we played our best basketball,” Hart said. “Why are they not playing well? Is it because they’re just off that day or is it because of good defence or the other team is playing well and forces
them into playing that kind of style?”
The Celtics were 19-2 during the regular season in games following a loss and are 4-0 over the past two postseasons (1-0 in the first round against Orlando).
The rub? Of Boston’s 21 losses during the regular season, 13 were at home.
“We’ve always bounced back,” guard Derrick White said. “I don’t expect nothing different now.”
New York Knicks at Boston Celtics
When/Where to Watch: Game 2, 7 p.m. EDT (TNT)
Series: Knicks lead, 1-0
BetMGM says: Celtics by 10.5
What to Know: The Celtics have thrived the past two seasons taking and making a high volume of 3-pointers. That strategy failed them in Game 1 against the Knicks, on a night in which the defending NBA champions took 60 3-pointers and had an NBA playoff-record 45 misses on their way to blowing a 20-point secondhalf lead in their 108-105 overtime loss. The Knicks will be looking to build
on a night in which they seemed to confound Boston with multiple switches on defence and got big scoring nights from All-Star Jalen Brunson, who finished with 29 points. Boston starting centre Kristaps Porzingis and reserve Sam Hauser are both day to day after leaving Game 1 early.
Porzingis played for only 13 minutes before sitting out the second half with an illness. Hauser left with a sprained right ankle.
Mazzulla said Porzingis has ongoing effects from an illness that sidelined him for a stretch of games late during the regular season. Denver Nuggets at Oklahoma City Thunder When/Where to Watch: Game 2, 9:30 p.m. EDT (TNT) Series: Nuggets lead, 1-0
BetMGM says: Thunder by 11.5
What to Know: It’ll be Game 2 of the matchup between Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, two of the three MVP finalists. Denver rallied from a double-digit deficit in the
last five minutes of Game 1 to win 121-119 and handed the Thunder their first loss since April 6. Jokic went off for 42 points and 22 rebounds in the victory. The Nuggets outrebounded Oklahoma City 63-43 and scored 27 second-chance points while getting Oklahoma City big men Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren into foul trouble. Jokic committed five fouls in the opener, and he often initiated contact while using his experience to avoid fouling out. He received a flagrant-1 for elbowing Lu Dort in the head in the fourth quarter. A key to the series going forward might be how physical a style the 7-foot, 284-pound Jokic is allowed to play. Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in Game 1, but didn’t get the usual help from his teammates. Oklahoma City’s second All-Star, Jalen Williams, went 5 for 20 and scored 16 points in the opener. He rarely strings bad games together.
OKLAHOMA City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) comes down with a rebound in front of Denver Nuggets’ Russell Westbrook, left, in the first half of Game 1 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series on Monday in Oklahoma City.
(AP Photo/Nate Billings)
players, including two starters. NBA Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley (left ankle) and key reserve
De’Andre Hunter (right thumb) were injured in Game 1, while Darius Garland (left big toe) missed his fourth straight postseason game.
CLEVELAND Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) dunks in front of Indiana Pacers centre Myles Turner (33), forward Aaron Nesmith (23), guard Andrew Nembhard (2) and forward Pascal Siakam, right, in the first half during Game 2 in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs last night in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)