Oh, Brother! What A Pair They Are Josh And Ben Davis Sometimes Get Carried Away In Desire To Win
The Davis brothers believe they’re misunderstood.
Coeur d’Alene High School basketball starters Josh and Ben Davis say their competitiveness causes people to judge their play as out of control sometimes.
“We both try too hard at times,” said Ben, a junior. Josh, a senior, concurs.
If Coeur d’Alene coach Larry Bieber ends up seeking counseling by season’s end because of his team’s topsy-turvy play, he’ll know exactly the root cause.
The Davis brothers.
“They drive me nuts sometimes, but they’re great kids,” Bieber said. “They are a coaching challenge; they’re the hardest kids I’ve ever coached.”
Bieber frequently reminds his players of the three precepts of his program: Play with pride, play hard and play with poise.
The Davises generally exhibit two of the three canons; poise is the one they frequently lack.
“(The season) has had its ups and downs,” Ben said. “I’ve helped the team at times and I’ve hurt the team at times. It’s our will to want to win. I sometimes get the attitude that I need to step up and take over, and sometimes that’s not good.”
Of the two, Josh, a point guard, is the more natural basketball player (“He’s always dribbling a basketball around school,” Ben said). For Ben, basketball comes harder than soccer or football.
Together, they’re averaging 17.8 points (Josh 9.2, Ben 8.6), 7.2 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 4.4 steals per game.
Like their team’s 6-8 overall record, the Davises have played about seven games fairly well and seven subpar.
“When they fit into the team concept is when they help us the most,” Bieber said. “We’ve seen glimpses of it - not just in games but in practices, too.
“They both want to win bad, but they try to do too much. They force things and it looks to people like they’re out of control. They have to realize they’ll get there (winning) better if they work together.”
The Davises are the fourth- and fifth-oldest brothers in a 10-boy family: Lee, 24; Koko, 22; Ian, 19; Josh, 18; Ben, 16; Joey, 15; Aaron, 13; Sonny, 12; Zach, 9; and Michael, 7.
Josh and Ben get much of their inspiration from Koko, the oldest of the athletically blessed brothers.
Koko never had a chance to play sports in high school, but was destined to be a standout athlete, his brothers said. Koko, a talented pitcher and multi-sport athlete, was in the eighth grade when he broke his neck while diving over a couch mimicking a touchdown celebration on television. The freak accident ended Koko’s athletic career and left him in a wheelchair.
Since then, Koko has and continues to coach his brothers in youth recreation sports, and has coached Josh and Ben at regional AAU basketball tournaments.
“He would have been all-state in a couple of sports, no doubt,” Ben said of Koko.
Jim and Cathy Davis, the boys’ parents, are just getting started following the high school athletic endeavors of their children. In fact, Josh and Ben say the best athletes will be their younger brothers.
Being a part of a 12-member team is much like growing up in a 12-member household for the Davises.
Sibling rivalry is no different than the typical moments of tension on the team. Problems have a way of working themselves out, the brothers said.
A case-in-point is the current three-game losing streak the Vikings hope to snap this weekend. CdA visits Sandpoint on Friday and entertains Lewiston on Saturday.
“I think we’re going to start turning it around,” Ben said after practice Monday. “We had our best practice of the season Friday. We have a lot of talent on the team. We’ve got to learn to use it correctly.”
That was a day after perhaps the team’s worst loss of the year, a 65-64 setback to Bonners Ferry. The Viks led by 14 points with 4:30 remaining before collapsing.
“The Bonners Ferry game was like getting hit in the forehead with a 2-by-4,” Bieber said. “It caught (the players’) attention. It was humiliating and nobody likes to be humiliated on their home floor.”
That was just one of several losses the Vikings shouldn’t have had, Josh Davis said.
“I honestly think there’s only one game we should have lost and that was to Eagle,” he said.
At 0-3 in league, the Viks’ hopes of an Inland Empire League championship are on mathematical life support.
But CdA needs some victories - and soon - to avoid last-place seeding for the state-qualifying regional tournament next month.
The Davises see themselves being instrumental in CdA’s hoped-for revival.
“We haven’t played super together yet in one game,” Ben said of he and his brother. “If it happens, we’re not going to lose, I guarantee you.
“We’ve played up to the level of other teams and down to the level of teams, but not to our level.”
Ben pointed to an early 66-63 win at home over then No. 1-ranked Boise as an example of the Viks’ potential.
“That’s what we could be doing every game,” he said.
Added Josh: “Nobody has seen the real Coeur d’Alene team yet. I don’t know if it’ll happen this weekend - I hope it will - but people are going to see the old Coeur d’Alene High School again.”
And that’s something the Davis brothers want understood.
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