Lamar Duncan ’20 is the "emotional leader" of the 2020 Saints varsity boys basketball team, according to Head Coach Terrell Myers. "Lamar’s demeanor and attitude sets the tone for himself and all of his teammates." This season, he's been nominated to play in Delaware's Blue-Gold basketball game, which showcases the state's top seniors in the sport. In his final home game on February 18, Lamar scored 18 points and became the fifth Saints boys basketball player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career points. Beyond his contributions to Saints football and basketball, Lamar lives and leads on Fleming dorm with III Form boys, and also serves as an Admissions Ambassador, a senior leader of Guys Group, and a mentor at a local elementary school. We interviewed Lamar about his athletic career at St. Andrew's in May 2019, at the end of his junior year.

Freshman year I played varsity football, then I played varsity basketball, and then I played JV baseball for the first time. Sophomore year I continued on with football and basketball. I want to play college basketball so [this year], I'm also playing on a travel basketball team outside of school.

This year we won the Cannon Game, which is our rivalry game versus Tatnall, our last game of the season. We hadn’t won that in a really long time. So, getting that back my junior year was really exciting. Also, making states in basketball was another big accomplishment for the team, and for the school. Having everyone come to that first state championship game was incredible.

I want to be First Team All-Conference [for basketball]. I got Second Team this year. I also want to make the playoffs again. We went 15-5 this year, so I definitely want to win more than 15 games. In football, I hope to keep the Cannon as I graduate.

Since you already live with your teammates, it makes our teams even stronger. Your team becomes your family. I think that's a big reason why I decided to come to St. Andrew's—because not only are you living with your teammates, you're playing together, you're eating together. It's like you're one unit. 

Freshman year football, we didn't win one game. All my other friends were playing soccer, volleyball and they're all winning and then football went 0-8, and it just felt really bad. And then freshman year basketball season, we were under .500—I think we were 7-12.

But now, this year in football, we won the Cannon. Basketball last year we were 8-12. This year we were 15-5. So, you can tell what happens when you work and you don't give up. You see improvement in your team. I think that one big takeaway from my three years playing sports at St. Andrew's is that you're going to get better if you work and your teammates are all devoted to the whole team.

It's worth noting that Lamar has achieved many of his goals since this interview took place: Saints football went 6-4 and kept the Cannon during its 2019 season and was named First Team All-Conference. The basketball team not only made the playoffs as an 18 seed, but made it all the way to the Final Four round of the tournament after knocking out the 2 seed in the Sweet Sixteen. They were not able to progress further because the tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.