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Lamar, Kensy adjust to college experience
Last year, it was all about going to their lockers between classes, preparing for junior-senior prom and dominating on the court as members of their high school hoops team. This year, taking college courses and midterms, meeting new individuals and trying to find roles on their athletics teams comprise the lives of Maryvale graduates Santo Lamar and Garrett Kensy.
Lamar and Kensy, who were selected as the Times' co-Most Valuable Players for the 2005-2006 basketball season, each achieved great success on the Flyers' varsity squad, each scoring more than 1,000 career points and leading Maryvale to three consecutive Class A title appearances.
The two graduated and Lamar enrolled at Buffalo State College to play Division III hoops, while Kensy chose Mansfield University, on a full athletic (football) and partial academic scholarship.
Early this past football season, Kensy suffered an injury, and Mansfield decided to drop its football program following the campaign. Since then, the former Maryvale Salutitarian has enrolled at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania, receiving a full athletic and partial academic scholarship.
The former three-sport star at Maryvale is looking forward to being a part of a stable athletics and classroom environment.
"I want to get back on the field and show what I can do," said Kensy, who will play quarterback as a redshirt freshman in the fall for the Division II Saints. "It'll be a good conference for football, playing against very good competition. (Mercyhurst) also has an excellent academic system. I'm looking forward to it."
In the meantime, Kensy has assisted both his father, Mark, and older brother, Chris, on the bench for varsity and junior varsity basketball with the Flyers.
For Lamar, who averaged about 22 points per game with Maryvale last season, it's been a season of adapting to college basketball for the Bengals.
He has started two of 18 games, averaging just under 10 minutes per appearance and four points per game. Lamar has shot 44 percent from the field, but just 18 percent from three-point range, a big difference from his accurate stroke from downtown last season on the high school hardwood.
However, Buffalo State men's head basketball coach Fajri Ansara said Lamar has developed both on and off the court as the season has progressed.
"(Santo) is what I'm looking for," Ansari told the Times last Thursday. "He's a strong and confident shooter and he's not afraid of taking big shots. His confidence will only grow. There's an adjustment with the college game being a little bigger and a little quicker, but he comes from a good high school program at Maryvale. Santo's got good poise for a freshman and he's also a gentleman...He's demonstrated excellent qualities and I think Santo will have a promising career at Buffalo State."
Ansari, the former Turner Carroll High School coach, has 11 new players on his roster this winter. Buffalo State is currently 9-10 overall, 4-7 in the State University of New York Athletic Conference.
Lamar, who was unavailable for comment, is the only Western New York athlete on the Bengals' roster in Ansari's second season at Buff State. He has also taken classes geared toward the computer information systems field.
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