The Neal brothers Dayshawn (left) and Tre (right) are playing on the same basketball team for the second time in their lives.

As one scans the recent Hermiston football and basketball rosters, a common name emerges: Neal. It belongs to Tre, a senior forward, and Dayshawn, a sophomore guard.

“Well, growing up playing together, we get to know each other’s moves and what they’re thinking and what they’re gonna do,” Tre said. “It’s definitely fun. It’s real fun.”

The pair played together on their middle school basketball team when Tre was in eighth grade and Dayshawn in sixth.

“That’s what I looked forward to,” Dayshawn said.

It’s an interesting dynamic between them. Though brothers, they’re both independent and see each other as individuals who are brothers.

“I don’t think one of them wants to be the other one’s brother,” head basketball coach Dave Ego. “I don’t think…the announcers say, ‘This is Dayshawn’s brother Tre.’ I think they want their own identity. That’s important to them.”

And with that desire to have separate identities, the brothers, especially Dayshawn, don’t feel shackled to each other. Though Tre is the elder of the two, Dayshawn sees them as equals.

Ego said that Tre has become a leader, a “rah-rah guy.” Dayshawn, meanwhile, is independent and stands his ground.

“(Dayshawn’s) not gonna take any crap from his brother,” Ego said smiling. “His brother probably got in trouble for giving him crap early on. And so I think that probably only a couple times so far that I’ve seen (Tre) tell Dayshawn, ‘Straighten up. Get into this.’ But it’s in the same tone that he’s telling everyone else.

“(Dayshawn) probably responds better to Tre than anyone else.”

Playing on the same football team as siblings is different than playing on the same basketball team. Tre played defensive line, and Dayshawn played quarterback. Rarely, if ever, did they participate in the same drill, and rarely, if ever, were they on the field at the same time.

Basketball is different.

They’re always practicing together and often are on the court together. In fact, they started the first few games.

“We have our little knacks that get on each other’s nerves,” Tre said.

Tre and Dayshawn, though, are just two members of a basketball team trying to find its identity. Despite that, though, the mixing of personalities that comes with any team has begun to gel.

“It’s been fun so far,” Ego said. “As a group, we play with a lot of different personalities. There’s been some self-doubt from kids and not a lot of self-esteem about what they’re doing. But I think with those two we don’t have to worry about that department.”