MONTICELLO, Utah — A basketball coach in San Juan County wanted to make the last game for one of his players a special one. So, he let his little brother play alongside him.
“It was one of those moments you just can’t write up,” said Josh Keyes, a coach at Monticello High School. “It was perfect. It's one of my favorite memories in my 20 years of coaching.”
Kaden Pehrson and his younger brother Jake lost their father years ago to a snowmobiling accident. He played basketball at their high school, too.
“About a week before senior night, I just had this idea pop in my head. I thought, ‘We could really honor Kaden, his family, and his brother by allowing the two boys to start together,'" Keyes said.
Just 10 minutes before the first quarter, Keyes told Jake he was playing in the varsity game with his big brother.
“It was awesome — it was just a lot of fun,” said Jake, a freshman at Monticello High School. “I wasn’t expecting it, that’s for sure — I had to let it all sink in.”
And playing together meant a lot to the brothers. It meant getting to honor their dad and their love for basketball.
“My dad was 6-foot-6, so he was really tall. And me being his son, I always really looked up to him,” Kaden said.
Kaden said teaming up with his brother made his final senior game even more special.
“Your teammates are fun and they’re definitely your brothers, but having your 'brother brother' as your teammate, it’s a whole new level,” he said.
That day, the team won. They also walked away with more than the winning title.
“There was more people crying than cheering because they understood the context, they understood the connection, and what basketball meant to the Pehrson family and what basketball meant to Scott,” Keyes said.
