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NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The gym was packed as all of Half Hollow Hills West High School closely watched on. It was competition night at the Long Island high school, as the classes vied for supremacy in a wide array of events. Principal Jim LoFrese announced that the last event of the night, the basketball game, was about to begin and the juniors took the floor against the seniors. James and Joe Jones assumed their positions on opposite sides of the court.

As the game began, the junior team jumped out to an early lead and quickly began to take the theme out of competition night. James, the lone senior on Hills West's varsity basketball squad, could only guard one man, doing his best to hold his brother relatively in check. However, Joe's buddies, Marc Weingard and Kheil McIntyre, were having a field day at his classmates' expense and it did not do much for James' pride.

As the game winded down, Weingard beat his man going to the hoop, and the juniors relished in their victory over the senior class. With the whole school looking on, there was only so much James could take and he let the scoring-minded Weingard know that with a palm firmly imprinted in his midsection.

"I'm as white as they come, so that red handprint was cleanly embedded in my stomach," Weingard said. "I was showing people for days at school."

More than 20 years later, James, 39, and Joe, 38, again find themselves on opposite sides of the court. This time, the brothers traded their jerseys for business suits, as head coaches of Yale and Columbia, respectively. Sitting in the balcony of Yale's John J. Lee Amphitheater on Friday night is the man they credit for the work ethic that got them to the top of these Ivy League basketball programs -- their father, Herman Jones.

Growing up, Herman was a foundation for the two brothers along with their younger siblings, John and Kizuwanda. Herman and their mother, Edna, got a divorce when James was in seventh grade, but their father's presence and attitude were always very important constants.

"My dad is a guy whose been a rock in our lives," James said. "He's probably the only thing that has been solid in our lives has been our father and our relationships with each other. He's the hardest working person I've ever met."

"As I've gotten older, I've become more like him," Joe said. "He's got an unbelievable will, unbelievable drive. He's an extremely positive person; he's somebody that we gain strength from because of watching what he did in our childhood."

Self-described best friends, the two talk with each other nearly every day, doing their best to keep their conversation on a personal level. Each brother greatly enjoys the position that they're currently in and are grateful for the personal journeys that got them there.

After graduating from Hills West, the Jones brothers each went on to play basketball at state schools in New York. James went on to SUNY Albany and played under Dr. Richard Sauers, a member of the 700-win club. Joe chose to play under Paul Callahan at SUNY Oswego -- just a couple of hours down the road from his brother.

When James graduated, he decided to enter the business world as an executive account manager in Albany. Joe moved back to Long Island and was hired as a guidance counselor at Comsewogue High School, where then-varsity coach Frank Romeo hired him as the middle school basketball coach.

On weekends, James would come to practice at the middle school and help out his brother. As a result, he realized that coaching was what he wanted to do with his life and returned to Albany to start his coaching career as an assistant under Sauers.

"He was a tireless recruiter," Sauers said. "He used todrive sometimes 150 miles one way just to talk to a kid between study halls that we were after. He would do that routinely, on the phone with them all the time, visit them all the time, anything legal that he could do, he did. He got me players."

After five years at Albany, James was hired as an assistant at Yale and served under Dick Kuchen for two years. He then moved to Ohio University to assistant coach, before returning to New Haven in 1999 as Kuchen's successor. In just his third season as head coach, James led Yale to a share of the Ivy League title for the first time in nearly 40 years. His 2001-02 squad fell to Penn in a playoff game, but went on to collect the Elis' first-ever postseason win -- a 67-65 victory at Rutgers.

Joe eventually rose to the position of varsity coach at Comsewogue after Romeo retired and went to coach at local Suffolk Community College. For a number of summers, Romeo and Joe would take their Comsewogue teams to the Villanova basketball camp run by Rollie Massimino. There, Joe met then-Villanova assistant Jay Wright. When Wright got the head coaching job at Hofstra University, he sought out Joe and convinced him to join his staff.

Joe's energetic personality was evident in his first year on the Hofstra bench, when he got in trouble for waving a towel at home games to excite the fans. However, his impact was truly felt in the recruiting department, most notably by playing an integral role in the recruitment of one of Hofstra's greatest players of all time, Speedy Claxton. The current Golden State Warriors guard led Hofstra to the NCAA Tournament. He was twice named America East Player of the Year, as well as honorable mention All-American at his alma mater.

After three years at Hofstra, Joe moved on to Villanova to serve under Steve Lappas for four years. When Lappas was fired, Joe stayed on board, as Wright was named as the replacement. During the most recent offseason, Columbia was searching for a head coach, as Armond Hill was let go after failing to post a winning season in his eight years in Morningside Heights. In competition with the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bobby Hurley, Joe won the job and has already made his mark.

So far this season, the Lions have tripled their win total of last year, and the traits that won Joe "most popular" in high school are going a long way to get the New York campus behind his program.

On Friday night, the two brothers follow the pre-game tradition of greeting the opposing coach, but James and Joe do so with a hug and a kiss.

Despite the Harvard-Yale hockey game depleting the Elis' fan base to an extent, there is an excitement in the stands. The extended family is in attendance and McIntyre and Weingard are seated in the Columbia section, unrelentingly pledging their allegiance to their old teammate from the junior-senior game, Joe.

As the game begins, the dramatically different personalities of the two brothers become apparent. James starts the game seated on the bench and, when standing, has his arms almost perpetually crossed, eying the action.

Joe is in constant motion on the sidelines, constantly talking to his assistants and players and making calls out to the court with fervent arm motions. When Joe substitutes for someone, he meets them with a hearty embrace without regard for the effect on his designer suit.

"There's no holds barred when you're a head coach," Joe said after the game. "You can let your emotions out and show them. I want my guys to know I'm in the fight with them and I think they know that."

Joe can even be seen with his arm caringly around an official's shoulder as he jokes with him while one of James' players is about to shoot free throws.

At points in the first half, the entire Columbia bench is standing as they feed off their coach's energy, while Yale's players remain seated next to their controlled leader.

In a game in which the host Elis are the clear favorites, the Lions and their passionate coach find themselves on top going into halftime, 29-25. James paces slowly toward the Yale locker room as the Columbia players jog to theirs.

Herman remains in the balcony, refraining from showing partiality by clapping for either team. His gut wrenches inside for both his sons as the game is tied three more times before the end of the game.

Yale eventually pulls the game out by a five-point margin, and Herman can finally get up from his seat as the two brothers embrace once again at mid-court.

"I was just waiting for it to finish and get over with," Herman said. "I'm very proud of them, I'm elated to have two sons who are coaching in the Ivy League. It's a good feeling, I can't explain it."

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