Victory came with a price.

Elijah and Malachi Bell lost privileges because their team won a basketball game.

Well, maybe not.

“Both of them are grounded,” a joking Lafeyette Bell said with a proud-papa laugh after his Marian Central team lost to host Jacobs 57-48 in a nonconference game Saturday.

Lafeyette Bell is Marian’s first-year coach. His sons Elijah and Malachi are first-year basketball players for Jacobs. When Lafeyette Bell, founder of Illinois Fast Basketball, got the Marian job last summer after coaching Harvest Christian the past two seasons, Jacobs originally wasn’t on the Hurricanes’ schedule.

He then reached out to Jacobs’ Jimmy Roberts and the two coaches scheduled a game between their respective programs.

“I think it was a good thing for the community to see it,” Lafeyette Bell said. “It was fun.”

For Elijah Bell, the game was bittersweet. The junior guard, who played for his dad at Harvest Christian the past two seasons, suffered a left high-ankle sprain late in Jacobs’ final game of its own Hinkle Holiday Classic on Dec. 26. The injury happened only three days after he scored his 1,000th career point against Grayslake Central.

Elijah, who was named to the all-tournament team at Jacobs, missed his third straight game Saturday, meaning he missed a chance to play against his dad.

“It was a little emotional for me, seeing my little brother out there [on the court] and on my bench, and then looking at the other side and seeing my dad,” Elijah said. “I was remembering when I was back at Harvest, when I used to play for him. It’s crazy how it goes.”

Leave it to the freshman Malachi to be the player to help hand his dad’s team a tough loss. With Marian looking to pull off the upset, he scored eight of his 14 points in the fourth quarter after Jacobs led only 39-37 after three.

Malachi knocked down two 3-pointers in as many attempts in the fourth.

Take that, Dad.

“Our scout was – he knows it, and everybody in the Fox Valley [Conference] knows it – that he’s not a very good shooter,“ Lafeyette said. ”He knows he needs to get better at it. We let him shoot, and he took advantage of it.”

Malachi, who like his older brother has been a Day 1 starter for Jacobs, shot 3 of 4 from the floor overall in the quarter.

“I hit a few. I wish I could have hit more,” Malachi said. “I feel like I need to go back to the gym and work on my shooting with my dad. I feel I’ll get better and more consistent with it.”

Big brother couldn’t be prouder of his little brother this season. Malachi scored 29 points in his third varsity game (Nov. 26 against Lakes). Against his dad’s team, he added six assists, six rebounds and two steals.

Elijah (14.9 ppg), who said he hopes to play spot minutes this week, and Malachi (10.6 ppg) are the top two scorers for Jacobs (10-6).

“Malachi is doing a great job as a freshman,” Elijah said. “I remember being a freshman, and I’d say he’s very tired. He’s getting fatigued. Every day I got to tell him, ‘You’re good. Keep your head up. Get some good rest. Keep your body healthy.’ That’s the biggest thing, especially when the postseason is here. You got to have your body healthy, and you got to be ready.”

Instinctively during Saturday’s game, Malachi would do something on the court and take a peek at Marian’s bench.

How am I doing, Dad?

“I was always looking,” Malachi said. “My natural reaction is to look at him, see what he’s doing, but he had no reaction to me.”

There was a basketball game to be won, after all. The dad of Elijah and Malachi was trying to coach his Hurricanes to a second straight win, after they got No. 5 the previous night against St. Edward.

“It was to the point that last night we barely even talked to each other,” Lafeyette said with a smile about his sons. “We’re a super-competitive household, but it wasn’t about Coach Bell vs. the Bells [on Saturday]. It was Marian vs. Jacobs, and I think my Marian boys came out and competed their butts off. I’m very proud of them.”

The Bells agreed that Saturday’s game meant something extra for all of them. Maybe Jacobs and Marian will rematch next season.

“Today was special,” Malachi said. “I’m very grateful that this happened.”