Omari Lawrence - SG - St. Raymonds - Bronx, NY - ST. JOHN's (Signed LOI)

http://www.fiveborosports.com/ssp/news?news_id=2345

Lawrence shines in new home: If Saturday evening was any indication, Omari Lawrence will enjoy his new home. The St. John’s-bound wing scored 25 points to lead the City team past the Suburbs, 129-120, in the Jordan Brand Classic regional game at Madison Square Garden.

“In the beginning [of the game] I was really nervous, but I settled in really quickly,” said Lawrence, who spent his senior year at South Kent (Conn.) after making a name for himself at St. Raymond’s in the Bronx.  He listed his favorite moment as meeting Michael Jordan.

With the game behind him, Lawrence said his attention now turns to his graduation from the South Kent School, which is only four weeks away. 

I’ve been waiting to graduate for a long time and being away from home so much [at a boarding school] has been tough,” he said.   

http://bebballsju.blogspot.com/2009/04/one-on-one-with-omari-lawrence.html

Pat Stevens (PS): -Feeling when committed…

Omari Lawrence (OL): It was great. Me and my family and the coaches had met and we decided that’s the place for me. We had the press conference later near a gym I grew up playing at and a bunch of the media came.

PS -If not St. Johns…

OL: I can’t even answer that really. But my final schools were Louisville, Memphis, Marquette, UConn, Pitt and Xavier.

PS -Positives from the prep school experience…

OL: I got to play against 7-footers every night, got more serious with school work , had to be real independent doing things on my own, and our strength coach helped me develop my body. He helped me tone down after coming in a little overweight and it really gets you ready for college and especially the Big East where it’s physical.

PS -Any previous prep school players you spoke with…

OL: I knew Tyrone Nash (Notre Dame/Northfield Mount Hermon, MA) and Darius Gabriel (Winchendon, MA).

PS -Best game of the year…

OL: My most consistent was against Notre Dame Prep, we lost in OT. It was so up and down. There were a lot of lead changes, it was a really physical game, we were attacking the basket and getting easy baskets. I was guarding Sean Kilpatrick (Cincinnati) and we were scoring on each other and getting stops. It was a back and forth, high energy game. It was a fun game to play in.

PS -On the National Prep Tournament first round loss to eventual champion Tilton (N.H.)…

OL: It was a tough one for us. We played them earlier and beat them by like 30. We came into the game thinking we were going to win against an easy team and they made the game tough for us.

PS -On the runner-up finish in the New England Class A Playoffs…

OL: Every night we played against a tough team. There were no breaks, every time we had to bring it. In the championship against Bridgton we were up 20 with eight minutes to go. You could say we fell asleep. It was really rough for us to be up by so much and lose like that. We came out knocking down every shot and were real confident. I think we got tired as a team, our confidence died down and they started coming back. It was very hard for us. We didn’t know what to do they were scoring so fast.

PS -On February’s National Prep School Invitational…

OL: Previously that week we were hearing we were going to lose to Tilton by ex amount of points because they were undefeated and that Northfield Mount Hermon had a great shooter who was going to light us up. We wanted to show people we were No. 1 and we played well both those games and picked up the wins. We had won 16 straight around that time.

PS -On November’s National Tip Off…

OL: Everybody was trying to find themselves. We weren’t in sync. We couldn’t score against Patterson and they had already played like 12 games. It was hard but we bounced back and put together a good season.

PS -Regrets from career…

OL: I think if we had stayed home and played for St. Raymond (NY), me and Kevin (Parrom) would’ve run through the CHSAA. But it would have been less competitive for us. The league wasn’t that strong this year. A lot of players moved on to college. So I’d say we bettered ourselves by coming to South Kent. The mindset and whole structure of it helped us. But regrets, I would have loved to have won the city championship our sophomore and junior year.

Omari sounds like a great guy with the right type of attitude.  I hope he has a great career at STJ.

http://redstormsports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/050109aaa.html

Lawrence, a 6-4, 205-pound swingman who starred at St. Raymond's in the Bronx before enrolling at South Kent for his senior year, has been rated a top 25 prospect at the small forward position. He averaged 18.0 points per game as a junior in 2007-08, earning first team All-City distinction from the NY Daily News and first team all-league honors from the New York Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA).

This past year at South Kent, Lawrence led the Cardinals to a 26-7 record and an appearance in the NEPSAC title game, where his squad fell to Stith's Bridgton Wolverines, whom the Cardinals defeated twice during the regular season. Undisputedly the team's leader, Lawrence spurred his squad to a 16-game winning streak during the season, during which South Kent played for approximately two months without a loss. He averaged 14.1 points per game, 6.6 assists and 5.4 rebounds with a 79.0 percent mark from the free throw line for the year. His coach at South Kent was Kelvin Jefferson.

Most recently, Lawrence scored 25 points on 12-of-21 shooting to go along with five boards for the City Team in the Jordan Classic Regional game at Madison Square Garden on April 18. Lawrence played a game-high 35 minutes - the most among players on either squad - as the City Team beat the Suburban team, 129-120.

Did anyone see him play at IS8? Judging by the few stats I viewed he didn't seem to make much of an impact

http://redstormsports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/050109aaa.html

Lawrence, a 6-4, 205-pound swingman who starred at St. Raymond's in the Bronx before enrolling at South Kent for his senior year, has been rated a top 25 prospect at the small forward position. He averaged 18.0 points per game as a junior in 2007-08, earning first team All-City distinction from the NY Daily News and first team all-league honors from the New York Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA).

This past year at South Kent, Lawrence led the Cardinals to a 26-7 record and an appearance in the NEPSAC title game, where his squad fell to Stith's Bridgton Wolverines, whom the Cardinals defeated twice during the regular season. Undisputedly the team's leader, Lawrence spurred his squad to a 16-game winning streak during the season, during which South Kent played for approximately two months without a loss. He averaged 14.1 points per game, 6.6 assists and 5.4 rebounds with a 79.0 percent mark from the free throw line for the year. His coach at South Kent was Kelvin Jefferson.

Most recently, Lawrence scored 25 points on 12-of-21 shooting to go along with five boards for the City Team in the Jordan Classic Regional game at Madison Square Garden on April 18. Lawrence played a game-high 35 minutes - the most among players on either squad - as the City Team beat the Suburban team, 129-120.

omari wasnt the "undisputed" team leader...he had a solid squad at south kent, theres a few players i can think of who were team leaders. king kev just to name one.

Quote from: gonzalo on May 11, 2009, 02:11:55 PM

http://redstormsports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/050109aaa.html

Lawrence, a 6-4, 205-pound swingman who starred at St. Raymond's in the Bronx before enrolling at South Kent for his senior year, has been rated a top 25 prospect at the small forward position. He averaged 18.0 points per game as a junior in 2007-08, earning first team All-City distinction from the NY Daily News and first team all-league honors from the New York Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA).

This past year at South Kent, Lawrence led the Cardinals to a 26-7 record and an appearance in the NEPSAC title game, where his squad fell to Stith's Bridgton Wolverines, whom the Cardinals defeated twice during the regular season. Undisputedly the team's leader, Lawrence spurred his squad to a 16-game winning streak during the season, during which South Kent played for approximately two months without a loss. He averaged 14.1 points per game, 6.6 assists and 5.4 rebounds with a 79.0 percent mark from the free throw line for the year. His coach at South Kent was Kelvin Jefferson.

Most recently, Lawrence scored 25 points on 12-of-21 shooting to go along with five boards for the City Team in the Jordan Classic Regional game at Madison Square Garden on April 18. Lawrence played a game-high 35 minutes - the most among players on either squad - as the City Team beat the Suburban team, 129-120.

omari wasnt the "undisputed" team leader...he had a solid squad at south kent, theres a few players i can think of who were team leaders. king kev just to name one.

Yes He Was! Ask the coach. Now  ! TY

what about kev, lisandro, and rashad? just to name some

I was a big fan of Omari after his junior year at St. Ray's.  You just want your recruits to keep building steam and improving.  I was
very discouraged with what I saw on the web cam NEPSAC championship.  The injury and the weight gain also throw some doubt in.  I'm very happy he came out and dominated the Jordan game, though.

I've read about weight gain.
But Ive seen him in person and he's a twig.

I've read about weight gain.
But Ive seen him in person and he's a twig.

So have I and he is no twig.

Quote from: Poison on May 20, 2009, 05:55:14 PM

I've read about weight gain.
But Ive seen him in person and he's a twig.

So have I and he is no twig.

but some people are making it sound like he's a fat ass which I don't think is the case either.

When I saw him back in November he looked out of shape with a couple of unneeded pounds.

I should also note this was after him coming off an injury and he was aware of his added weight.

i hope hes doing a fair share of lifting as well...hes mentioned how the extra weight made him better in the paint, so might as well replace the fat with muscle...also would help him loose the dead weight anyway since muscle burns fat

http://w3.nbebasketball.com/2009/06/04/nbe-prep-corner-with-pat-stevens-vol-23/

-St. John’s Omari Lawrence of South Kent, CT

“A bull in a china closet. He’s a bit unorthodox but very effective at what he does. His ability to shoot the three will have a lot to do with his success at the next level. You can’t just take it on the trees everytime. But he’s the type of kid that would take it in on Alonzo Mourning and he’d probably end up scoring too.” – Bridgton coach Whit Lesure

“He has the body to compete in the Big East, the toughness and the willingness to defend. He’ll have to be able to knock down shots more often to improve his game.” – St. Thomas More coach Jere Quinn

“We played South Kent three times and I’ve known him since he was very young playing down at camps in New Jersey and from when he was at St Raymond’s. He’s a talented kid with the ball, can score going to the hole, and I think he’ll have a nice career at St John’s. It was a good choice for him to stay home.” – Winchendon coach Mike Byrnes

“He’s really strong. We hammered them at our place right after Christmas. Both teams were out of sync and we were asking ourselves how are we winning by 30? Then they came back in the rematch and he played really well at the New Hampton tournament. He can really finish through contact.” – Brewster coach Jason Smith

Is Omari Lawrence playing for team Jamaica in FIBA?

Is Omari Lawrence playing for team Jamaica in FIBA?

That's what Zags said.  U19 team.

Sure it isn't Lance?

Lance fam is from Jam Rock