The Columbia basketball team is in the midst of an impressive season, having already won a share of the Cahokia Conference crown.

The season has been even more special for two brothers who have played a significant amount of minutes together as part of this winning program.

“They play off of each other all the time. They have those brotherly instincts where they kind of know where each other are going to be,” Columbia head coach Mark Sandstrom said of Jonathan and Jordan Holmes. “We’ve got a couple backdoor plays that we like to run. (Those plays) have probably been the most successful because of how they set each other up.”

Jonathan is averaging 14.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.44 assists and 1.84 steals per game. Jordan is right there, too, averaging 10.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.20 assists and two steals per game for the 19-6 Eagles.

“It’s a lot of fun, actually. Most people wouldn’t think so, but us two, we get along really, really well,” Jonathan said. “It’s just truly the best to play with another family member of mine. I think that it’s a blast. Having fun with your brother out there, creating a lot of memories. I have a blast with it.”

It’s just as fun for younger brother Jordan.

“Yeah, it’s always plenty of fun. With him being in his senior year, we’re just trying to make this year special,” Jordan said. “I’m just trying to have fun with him. I don’t want the season to end. Hopefully the rest of the year will be fun.”

Jordan is only a sophomore. Last year, they both played together on varsity as well. However, this year, Jordan was able to earn a spot as a starter and they’ve really gotten to play together. Sandstrom has witnessed improvement from both on the court.

“Jon has done a lot of growing, especially between his sophomore and junior year,” Sandstrom said. “His sophomore year, he didn’t quite get it yet. Then something happened to him during the summer between those years and everything really clicked for him. After the first couple of summer events, we knew we had something.”

Sandstrom also said he has seen Jordan’s leadership skills grow, especially verbally.

“Jordan is just really ahead of the game,” Sandstrom said. “He’s got really good basketball instincts. They’re probably the greatest basketball instincts of anyone I’ve coached. His hands, the way he sees things. You always want to see a step ahead. He sees two steps ahead.”

Those descriptions are in line with what the brothers said about each other’s play.

“I think I’m more of a scorer, cutter type of guy,” Jonathan said. “Jordan is more of a bring the ball up, set the tempo for the team. He’s looking to drive-dish, drive-score or get to the free throw line. He can shoot it really well, too.”

Jordan looks to find his brother.

“Jonathan, once he gets going, I think the whole team gets going,” Jordan said. “My job is to normally find him wherever he’s at on the court.”

Both started playing basketball competitively in elementary school. This is the first time they’ve ever played on the same team before. Jonathan said there may have been a time or two when his team needed an extra player, they’d bring his brother up to play. That doesn’t compare to the 25 games they have played together thus far this season, however.

And that doesn’t even count the football games. Yes, they even shared the football field together this past fall with the Eagles.

“That was my first time playing varsity,” Jordan said. “He was more of the leader on offense and defense in showing me where to go. It was good to have a bigger brother out there, because otherwise I would have been lost without him.”

Just like in basketball, they’ve been each other’s biggest fans.

“In football, when one of us would score a touchdown, we would be the first one right there to celebrate together,” Jonathan said. “Football and basketball have been a lot of fun to play with each other.”

The Eagles won their first round playoff football game, but fell in the second round to Mater Dei.

“Even though we lost, seeing Jordan at the end of the game was special knowing that I won’t get to play football again with him,” Jonathan said. “It was just special to see how much he cared about playing with all of us. Getting together with him after the game, that was truly special for me.”

Now the duo is looking forward to their basketball regional, hosted by Columbia. And this team’s season could truly be special.

“This is something special we’ve got going this year,” Jonathan said. “It’s a lot of fun. This is a special team that doesn’t come around quite often. I like playing with each one of these guys. Everyone has a different role, but we all filter perfectly with each other. There’s no sense of jealousy on the team, either. If someone has 20 (points), everyone will be celebrating with them. It’s someone different every single night.”

Besides Jonathan and Jordan, other starters include Drew Huebner, Korbin Farmer and Ryan Gudeman.

“Basically we’ve got five guys scoring around 10 points or more,” Sandstrom said. “Everyone knows we are more than Jonny and Jordan.”

Although basketball is a team game, there isn’t anything wrong with friendly competition. So, who wins in one-on-one?

“You know, whoever has the hot hand that day. Both of us have different skills we can use against each other,” Jonathan said.

“We’ll go outside and with me being a bigger body, I’ll take him in the post. With him being quicker…”

“…I’ll go around him,” Jordan interrupted.

“He’ll use his dribbling skills and stuff,” Jonathan said.

But, they agreed, there really wasn’t a definite answer.

“It’s pretty even,” Jordan said, so they bring in a tiebreaker. “Normally, we throw our little brother in.”
Jackson is in the seventh grade, so there are still two years before he joins the high school ranks. But before then, these brothers still have the rest of this basketball season to look forward to.