Lamb goes out with a bang

Doron Lamb’s final performance as a New Yorker was one he will remember for a long time. Among the top prospects in the nation and competing, at the famed Rucker Park in Harlem, he scored 25 points for the Blue/Skip to my Lou team in the third annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 All-Star game. It was a dream come true, the Laurelton guard said, an unexpected opportunity he took full advantage of.
“It’s a big honor,” the rising junior said.
But his greatest challenge has yet to arrive. That begins shortly, when he heads south, to Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, and registers at Oak Hill Academy, the prep school that has produced NBA players such as Carmelo Anthony, Josh Smith and Rajon Rondo.
It wasn’t an easy decision, Lamb said, to leave his friends and teammates at Bishop Loughlin, whom he led to the CHSAA’s Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan final as a sophomore, and his family in southeast Queens. But it was a choice he also had to make. For as much as he improved over the course of one year, he can double that at Oak Hill under Coach Steve Smith.
“He makes NBA players,” Lamb said of his new coach, “and I want to be an NBA player. Leaving was tough, but I got to do what’s best for me.”
The 6-foot-3 combo guard didn’t start thinking about Oak Hill until Smith called him. When he informed his mother, she was all for the move, as much for academics as basketball. He did well at Loughlin, the Fort Greene Catholic school in Brooklyn, maintaining a 75 average, but there is plenty of room for improvement in that area. Furthermore, the regimentation of prep school - all basketball and academics - doesn’t scare Lamb.
“That’s what I want,” he said. “I’m not worrying about all the other stuff. I’m just going to work hard.”
Lamb, who averaged 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Loughlin, is just one of many top city prospects to leave the area. St. Raymond’s star senior duo, Kevin Parrom and Omari Lawrence, who recently committed to St. John’s, will attend South Kent Prep in Connecticut, while Archbishop Molloy’s Ashton Pankey and All Hallows’ Devon Collier will be at St. Anthony in Jersey City. Years ago, that would’ve never happened, but with more distractions, prep school is an intriguing choice.
“It’s the best thing for some of them to leave,” said former Archbishop Molloy guard Kenny Anderson, who went on to play at Georgia Tech and the NBA, and coached the White/Goat team in the Boost Mobile Elite 24 All-Star game. “I had a good supporting cast; I was protected. Some of these kids are not protected. They have no choice.”
Lamb doesn’t necessarily fall into that category. He has a solid base at a solid school. Yet, when Oak Hill came calling, Lamb jumped at the opportunity.
“That’s my dream school,” he said. “I always wanted to go to Oak Hill.”