Men’s Basketball team gets double trouble
Sam Kobylar
Staff Writer
While two of Hudson Valley’s fall sports teams each had a set of twins in football and soccer this season, there are a new set of twins in town ready for their opportunities to play this winter.
The Palmer twins, Brandon and John, are both freshmen who play for the Hudson Valley Men’s Basketball team. Both Palmers are over 6 feet tall and each played high school basketball at Columbia High School in East Greenbush, New York. Brandon is majoring in business administration while his brother, John is majoring in individual studies.
Like most college basketball players, the Palmer brothers each started playing basketball at a very young age. “We have always played since we were little kids, we have always liked playing because we get to play with each other,” said Brandon.
His twin, John, said “My dad had me in the gym at an early age. In fifth grade I started CYO.”
Also, like almost every basketball player in the world, both of these guys have a huge love for the game. “[I enjoy] the feel of the game, going up and down the court, dribbling the ball and just getting shots up,” said Brandon.
“I just like being on a team, just like winning with each other,” said John.
Each had great success while playing at Columbia High, as both were part of a Columbia basketball team that made a Final Four appearance.
When asked about his favorite basketball memories, Brandon said “My senior year in high school we went to the Final Four and lost by two points in 5 overtimes.”
When asked the same question, John responded, “Definitely senior year in high school when we played [the Final Four] at the Times Union Center.”
Growing up as twins, the Palmers liked to cheer for opposite NBA teams as each Palmer’s favorite team comes from one of the biggest rivals in the NBA today – the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Brandon is a Bulls fan while John is a Cavaliers fan. Even though they like to support opposite NBA teams, both Palmers each love to watch one NBA player. That player is 2014-2015 NBA MVP, Stephen Curry. When asked about who their favorite NBA players to watch are, both brothers simply said “Stephen Curry.”
While growing up, things got very competitive between the brothers. “It was crazy, we just competed all the time every time we played one on one, which is pretty much every day,” said Brandon.
“That has definitely been a big thing. We just competed every day during the summer.” said John.
Growing up really close to Hudson Valley made it a very easy decision for the twins on where to go to college coming out of high school. “It is close to home, about ten minutes, it was just the best option at the time,” said Brandon.
Since they go to Hudson Valley now, each brother is looking to move on to a four year school after their stay here. John said, “Hopefully I can go somewhere else after this and continue to play basketball.”
“I am trying to transfer to a D2 school on a scholarship,” said Brandon.
Both of these twins have both been huge assets so far throughout the first six games of the season for the Vikings and a big reason why the Vikings have won five of their first six games. Brandon’s breakout game came on the second game of the season where he led the team with 22 points and made five three pointers to help give Hudson Valley an 80-73 win over Cayuga.
While Brandon came up big in the Vikings second win of the season at Cayuga, John had a span of two games in a row where he had four three pointers. Both of those games resulted in wins for the Vikings. The first one came in the Vikings third game of the season where he scored 14 points (12 of them were three pointers) which led to a 110-74 win against Albany Pharmacy. John’s second breakout game came three nights later where he led the team with 26 points including four three pointers to help the Vikings improve to a 4-0 record in a tight win over Jefferson Community College, 92-86.
Throughout the first two weeks of regular season play, Vikings Men’s Basketball coach Mike Long really likes what he has seen from the Palmer twins.
“They have done very well, they bring an element of toughness to the team. They want to get better, work at the game, they both shoot the ball pretty well,” said Long. “They both play pretty good defense. They run the floor, they are unselfish, they pass the ball so I am very pleased and fortunate to have both of them.”
Both of the Palmer brothers have gotten off to great starts so far this season and will look to keep this going throughout the rest of the season for the Vikings Men’s Basketball team.