Putting Each Other Through the Hoop

In the backyard of the Jacobsen home, one-on-one basketball games among brothers Adam, Brock and Casey are so intense they make the Ultimate Fighting championships look tame.

“My wife and I don’t watch because it gets pretty ugly,” said Von Jacobsen, the boys’ father. “We just hope they don’t come in bleeding or with broken arms.”

Adam, 23, a senior guard at Pacific and Brock, 20, a junior guard at San Diego, were home together last summer for the first time in several years to test themselves against Casey, 16, the rising family star.

“They played every night,” Von said. “Sometimes the older boys would be real quiet when they came in, and I knew Casey had beaten them.”

Said Casey: “We’re sibling rivals. We get after each other. Since I’m the youngest, they hate to lose to me. They want to show they’re superior, that they’re old and wise and I’m young and stupid.”

The nightly duels were “the funnest little games I’ve had,” Casey said. “Last year I matured and grew three or four inches and could play with them. It was the first time I really got to see what I was made of.”

Casey, 6 feet 6, is a junior guard at Glendora High, or “Gunner High” as I call it. Glendora produces prolific scorers like the Air Force Academy turns out pilots.

Tracy and Cameron Murray each went to Glendora and rank as the No. 1 and No. 2 scorers in Southern Section history with 3,053 and 2,842 points, respectively. Casey could pass both before he graduates.

He started the season with 1,201 career points and is closing in on 1,800. He’s averaging 29 points and shooting 44% from three-point range for the 19-1 Tartans.

In almost half his games this season, he has faced box-and-one defenses, where teams assign one player to guard him all over the court.

“Every game a team sends a hit man,” Casey said. “It’s really hard to concentrate when there’s a guy jawing on your ear, scratching you, elbowing you. But it’s only going to prepare me better for college.”

Casey, who has a 3.9 grade-point average, and Artesia’s 6-6 Jason Kapono are considered the two best junior shooters in the state. Stanford, UCLA, Utah and Arizona are preparing to launch an all-out recruiting battle next summer.

Adam and Brock each graduated from Crescenta Valley when the family lived in La Crescenta from 1992-95. They were top prep players but had limitations in their games that prevented big-time powers from recruiting them.

Casey learned from their experiences and was determined to mold himself into a complete player. And he has.

From his three-point shooting range to his ability to rebound, play defense, post up and dribble like a point guard, he possesses all the skills of a future All-American.

“He’s shooting to be the best person and player he can possibly be,” said Mike LeDuc, Glendora’s coach. “And he doesn’t want to come up short. He does that every day in the way he lives his life, the way he studies, the way he practices, the way he plays.”

So many hours of Casey’s life have been spent in the family backyard, whether playing against his brothers, taking lessons from his father or simply working on his own..

“We only get to play about 32 actual games a year,” he said. “You have to cherish them. This game is fun. As soon as you get on the court, your adrenaline goes up, you start making shots and the other team starts to fear you. They see that look in your eyes and they know you’re coming out to get them. They get scared.”

Average, ordinary, routine--those are words and levels of play unacceptable to Casey. When one goal is reached, a higher goal is established.

“If you shoot for the moon, you fall among the stars,” he said. “I don’t believe in setting low standards.”

The influence of Casey’s brothers involve more than just basketball.

“My brothers taught me how to be a winner,” Casey said. “They’re both winners not only on the court but winners in life. I take from them not only [how to] be a good basketball player, because it will soon end. But treat people with respect and have the burning desire to do whatever comes your way.”

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.