These Days, Siblings Keep Rivalry on Court : Boys’ basketball: Attending different schools has allowed Chris and James Cannaday to constructively channel their competitiveness.

FULLERTON —  Most sibling relationships have rough moments, and there were times during adolescence when Chris and James Cannaday didn’t want to be together on the same basketball court.

When the brothers did get together for one of their many one-on-one games, fists often flew.

Times have changed. The Cannadays--Chris, 17, and James, 16--say they get along fine now. They are no less competitive than they were as feuding eighth-graders, but there is a major difference: They don’t attend the same school.

Because of that, Friday night’s Freeway League game between Sonora and Sunny Hills should be especially interesting. Chris is reserve forward for Sunny Hills; James is one of Sonora’s starting forwards.

This unique arrangement is not without precedent for the Cannadays, who also attended separate elementary schools.

Chris is 13 months older than James, but because of a move from Dallas to Fullerton, they started kindergarten the same year. As early as preschool, teachers warned the boys’ parents that the brothers depended on each other too much. So from the beginning of their elementary education, the family decided they should go to different schools.

The Cannadays’ parents thought the boys were ready to reunite in the seventh grade, but the reunion was less than successful.

“We would come home and sometimes actually yell at each other because we didn’t have enough space,” Chris said.

The tension was magnified by what happened on the basketball court. James was more athletic and started on the junior high teams. In the middle of a growth spurt in which he went from 5 feet 7 to 6-3 in a couple of years, Chris was more uncoordinated and sat on the bench.

They would carry their disputes into one-on-one games on the family’s basketball court.

“He was smaller than I was and he was doing all these layups around me,” Chris said. “It bothered me.”

Said James: “I guess every brother and sister fight at times. But there is the closeness in age. I think at times he resents me being in the same grade as him, and he definitely is the more physical of the two of us.

“When we do fight, it’s not a pretty sight.”

Despite the acrimony, the brothers continued the one-on-one games, but in the interest of detente, they stopped keeping score.

During that time, Chris said, he improved his game with the help of his brother.

By all accounts, their relationship improved after they split--”We haven’t really slugged it out since eight grade,” Chris said--and the basketball careers of each have progressed nicely.

Each started for his freshman and junior varsity teams and moved up to varsity this season.

Because Sunny Hills (12-6, 3-1 in league) has five starters back from its team that shared the league championship last season, is has been a hard lineup to crack for Chris. James is the third-leading scorer for Sonora (3-15, 1-3), averaging about 10 points.

Because of their different roles, the brothers might not play much against each other Friday, but they have in the past; Sunny Hills has won each of the four games.

“I made a couple of blocks against him,” Chris said, “but he always made a couple of three-pointers over me, so I guess it evened out.”

In any case, you can bet the Cannaday family will be among the game’s most involved fans Friday. Traditionally in these situations, the family sits half the game in the Sonora rooting section and half in Sunny Hills’. But they will be leaning a little in one direction.

“We’re looking for each of our boys to do well,” said the boys’ mother, Heather. “I guess that’s selfish, but it’s true.

“But down deep, you want Sonora to perform well, because they are the underdog.”