The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Grand Bahamian collegiate player Dwight Coleby was hoping to make the trip to Tortola, British Virgin Islands, this weekend with the Bahamas men’s national team as they attempt to successfully defend their title at the Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championship.

However, Coleby came home and was a victim of a robbery as the rental car that he was in with Donathan ‘Donnie’ Moss was broken into in the parking lot on Friday as they watched the Scotiabank Defenders’ fifth annual ‘Defend Ya Spike’ International Volleyball Tournament at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

While Moss, the driver, lost a number of valuable items, clothing and tennis shoes, Coleby had the most prized possession taken - his passport.

Now as the national team prepares to leave this weekend to start competition on Monday, Coleby will have to sit around at home as he waits on an official police report to take into the Bahamas passport office to have a new one issued in time for him to return to the United States to continue his education.

Coleby, 21, will be transferring from Ole Miss to the University of Kansas after signing a grant-in-aid agreement that will enable him to sit out the 2015-16 season and have two years of eligibility to play for the Jayhawks.

Monday night while watching the team practice at the KIG, coach Marvin Henfield also had his car broken into.

Recalling what happened on Labour Day, Moss said he brought Coleby to the gym to visit a friend and after spending about 15 minutes, they left and found the glass on their rental car broken.

“I lost my driver’s licence, my student state permit, some jewellery and stuff like that,” said Moss, who was home from Canada where he was also trying out for the national team. “My basketball stuff was in there too, but it wasn’t as serious as Dwight. At least we still have our lives, but these guys need to stop.”

Coleby, a 6-9 centre, said he has to go back to the police station on Friday for the report and that will be too late for him to get his passport and be able to travel with the team when they leave on Saturday.

“I’m really disappointed because I came here to make the team, but someone else had to ruin it for me,” said Coleby at Monday’s practice. “It was a holiday so I guess they had to find a way to do their mischief. When they got everything else, they could have dropped the passport.

“It would have saved me a lot of time and energy. Now I will miss this opportunity to travel again with the national team. I was really looking forward to playing again this year.”

Despite his loss, Coleby said he’s not going to hold any animosity towards the culprits, but he wished that his passport could be returned, even if it’s dropped off to the gym or even the police before the team travels.

“It’s a major disappointment because I came home to practice with the team,” Coleby said. “I wanted to get to know the guys better and get ready to play with them. I think it’s a very good team we have this year. They should really be able to win the title again. I’m just sorry that I can’t make the trip with them.”

Men’s head coach Mario Bowleg said the Bahamas Basketball Federation was really hoping to have Coleby included on the team since they had already lost the backcourt tandem of Marvin Gray and CJ Hinds, who will not be available to play this year.

“You would think that some people who have the authority would have assisted and made sure that he was able to go,” an irate Bowleg said. “He was told that he will not be able to get the police report until Friday, a week later and the same time that we are travelling.

“Tell me why he has to wait a week after to get the report when he already made it known to them that he is trying to travel with the men’s national team. We thought that they would have made a special effort to try to get the report out in sufficient time so that he can apply for the passport.”

Bowleg said it’s just disheartening that nothing could be done in advance to speed up the process to enable Coleby to travel.

The trip would have also afforded Coleby the opportunity to be reunited with his brother, Kadeem Coleby, who is expected to join the team in Tortola as he will be flying directly from Saudi Arabia where he just finished playing his professional season, helping his team to win the championship.

“We had a good time last year and I was really looking forward to playing with him again,” said Coleby, who came out of St George’s High School where he played under coach Darrel Sears.

In the meantime, Coleby said he will just wait to get his new documents before he prepares for his trip to Kansas next month.

“I left because I don’t think I was maximising my full potential,” said Coleby about his decision to transfer after he played just 16.5 minutes per game and averaged 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds. “I will be looking at more exposure and try to get better because Kansas has a bigger fan base and a lot of things happen for the school and the players.”

As for the national team, Coleby encouraged them to “just stay focused and don’t take any team for granted. Don’t think that we are the big bad wolf in the tournament like we did last year. We won, but we lost one of our games by 30 points because we felt we had chalk and we let our guard down. That loss almost knocked us out of the tournament. They just have to stay focused.”