Brothers bring an unmatched bond to Columbia College

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

One of the key ingredients to any successful team is chemistry and Columbia College has that in spades with brothers Collin and Carson Parker on the floor.

The brothers grew up in Montgomery County where basketball was a way of life.

“Our dad was a high school varsity coach, so we were always young, just growing up in the gym, so it was always like that high school expereince. We would come up and be like the household name in Montgomery County," Carson said.

The Cougars began recruiting the Parker family in the summer before Carson's senior year. As the oldest sibling, the sophomore came joined the Cougars first, in 2020. He finished his debut season with an honorable mention all-conference, as he started in all 24 games.

“He’s a really good player, but he’s also really intelligent and um a great teammate and brings a lot of intangible things to the court as well," Cougars head coach Tomas Brock said.

Just one year later, his younger brother Collin joined the ranks as a guard.

“He's probably a little more comfortable on the permitter um, you know, shoots the three really well, but then also can score inside," Brock said.

Although the duo has moved on to the next level, the Parker name is not finished in Montgomery County.

Clayton Parker is the youngest of the three brothers and, according to Collin and Carson, is set to be the best of the three, as he enters his freshman season playing for the Wildcats.

“He’s a really solid player. We would always beat up on him throughout the years, so he was always coming up with kind of a toughness," Carson said.

“I think he’ll definitely, probably be the best player out of all of us just cause he got all that experience playing against us," Collin added.

Clayton still has a lot of time to decide what his next steps are, but in the meantime his brothers will undoubtedly continue to motivate him.

“They’re super competitive, they’ll talk trash in basketball, but they always have each other’s backs," Montgomery head coach Scott Kroeger said.