Parker siblings
In what is expected to be a sight never before seen in the men’s basketball tournament of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi), a set of twins is expected to reunite on the hardcourt for the newly crowned champions Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras.
This as Jarvis “JJ” Parker arrived over the weekend to join his identical twin, former high school runningmate and current “Cobra Commander,” Jasper Parker to add more punch to an already-loaded SWU backcourt.
The duo played together for four years of high school basketball, splitting time between Savanna High School in Anaheim and Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California.
During the twins’ senior year playing for the Sunny Hill Lancers, Jasper Parker, who is older by 12 minutes, averaged 13.7 points, 4.6 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 32 games. Jarvis, on the other hand, normed just under 10 points, two rebounds and a steal for the Lancers, who went 25-8 (win-loss) during that season.
In an exclusive interview with Cebu Daily News just hours after arriving in Cebu, the younger Parker expressed his excitement to play with this brother and bring another dimension to the already multi-faceted Cobras attack.
“I’ve played with him all my life. I just hope to bring more accurate perimeter shooting and tough defense to the Cobras,” said Jarvis, who has a chance of earning a spot on an SWU side that will lose two-guard Adams Mohammed due to exhaustion of playing years.
Jasper, already a key cog for the Cobras who had just won two titles in a span of a week with their triumph in the Cesafi and the Asian University Basketball Championship last Sunday, said that although they may be twins, their games couldn’t be any more different.
“We both play different positions so we have different arsenals to our game. But I can say that we play very well together. He was my go-to guy in high school. But it’s been a while since I’ve played with my brother so we’ll see how we click again on the court,” said Jasper.
Jarvis admitted that he has been keeping tabs on the Cobras all-year long and is looking forward to earning a degree at SWU as well as adapt to the Cebuano style of play.
“It will be a huge adjustment in terms of culture, the weather and basketball but I’m up to it,” Jarvis said.