BY MARC RAIMONDI
Born and raised in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, the St. John's sophomore point guard didn't have many positive role models.”It wasn't really people who inspired me,” Lawrence said. “It was people who I've seen and I wanted to be the opposite. Growing up in my neighborhood, you have a lot of friends and by the time you get to a certain age, they're locked up in jail. Some of them are even dead. So I didn't want to end up like that.”He's far from it.Lawrence is a high school graduate who was recruited by Ivy League schools. He is working on a degree in communications at an academically sound school. He is an athlete, the most valuable player of last week's Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden.He scored 21 points, had 12 assists and 12 rebounds in the Red Storm's second festival win in as many seasons. Both wins, against Columbia in the semis and UMass in the finals, came without star guard Daryll Hill, leaving Lawrence to be the team's leader.”We said to our team before the game that he is the key to their basketball team,” said UMass coach Travis Ford, who recruited Lawrence when he was a coach of Eastern Ketucky. “He has the ball in his hands. He is the best defender on their team. Everything runs through him.”And it seemed to run as smooth as it has all year for St. John's. Red Storm coach Norm Roberts owes it to Lawrence's constant unselfishness.”Even though he got a personal goal, winning the MVP,” Roberts said, “he cared more about the team winning.”Added Hill: “I was real proud of him. He came a long way.”The sculpted 19-year-old, listed as 6-foot-1 but is probably an inch or so shorter, came a long way, indeed.After his junior year at Canarsie High School, he was getting barely any interest from Division I schools. With the help of a new PSAL rule, he transferred to Abraham Lincoln, where he played alongside Sebastian Telfair, a NBA lottery pick and now the Portland Trail Blazers' starting point guard. The move, along with a strong showing the summer before senior year at Reebok's ABCD Camp, got him more attention.Then, with Telfair playing with nagging injuries in the 2004 PSAL championship game, Lawrence stepped up and was named MVP. His first of two MVPs at MSG.Lawrence was recruited by Eastern Kentucky, UNC-Greensboro, and, ironically, UMass and Columbia. But when St. John's and the newly hired Roberts came calling, his interest was really piqued.”St. John's, they play in the Garden,” Lawrence said. “Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson. A lot of good players come out of here.”Now he's building his own legacy. With Hill out an undetermined amount of time, Lawrence has to take over the reins. And he has embraced the leadership role. After freshman Anthony Mason Jr. threw the ball away on an inbounds pass with 6.5 seconds left against the Minutemen, Lawrence saw the youngster's reaction.”He put his head down a little bit,” Lawrence said. “I told him, 'Don't worry about it. It's over with. We're still going to win this game.'”St. John's did. Eugene Lawrence was the main reason why.
