A family dinner led to destiny.

When Jacobs’ boys basketball team hosted Marian Central for a Saturday nonconference matinee in early January, brothers Elijah and Malachi Bell won bragging rights over their father. While Elijah didn’t play because of an ankle injury, Malachi scored 14 points in Jacobs’ 57-48 win.

“It was fun competition. It was awesome,” said Lafeyette Bell, Marian’s coach.

That night, the Bell family got together and talked about the day.

“At the dinner table, Elijah said, ‘How great would it be if all three of us were together?’ ” Lafeyette Bell said. “We bonded on it, and we prayed on it.”

After the season ended for both Jacobs and Marian, the Bells made the decision, which Lafeyette recently announced on Facebook. Elijah and Malachi will transfer from Jacobs after only one year and join their father at Marian Central next year.

Elijah is a 6-foot-2 guard who averaged 15.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals a game as a junior this past season in leading Jacobs to an 18-13 record. He was named to the All-Fox Valley Conference team, as was Malachi, a 6-2 freshman guard who averaged 9.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists a game.

Elijah scored the 1,000th point of his high school career during Jacobs’ Hinkle Holiday Classic and heads into next season with 1,212 points.

Lafeyette and his wife, Navonya, are the parents of five children. The family is moving from Lake in the Hills to Woodstock.

“It’ll be a great situation for Elijah to finish his senior year with me and Malachi to come join us as well,” Lafeyette said. “It just happened. It wasn’t planned. They were planning to graduate from Jacobs, but Elijah stated that he wanted to play his last year under me, and I can’t turn that down.”

Before coming to Marian last year, Lafeyette coached Harvest Christian Academy in Elgin for two years. Elijah played for his dad his freshman and sophomore years and was named to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class 1A All-State third team as a sophomore.

Early in this past season, when asked why they didn’t join their dad at Marian, the brothers said their father wanted them to “spread their wings.”

“They’ve been private-school kids most of their lives,” Lafeyette said of his sons. “The word around town was, ‘It’s [Class] 1A basketball [at Harvest Christian]. Can what you guys did at 1A translate to [Class] 4A?’ They had something to prove, and I wanted to support them in that journey.”

Lafeyette believes his sons have grown at Jacobs and spread their wings as Golden Eagles.

“They had to prove to themselves that, ‘Yeah, I can play with anybody,’ ” Lafeyette said. “I think they needed that year to redefine themselves.”

Lafeyette said he talked to Jacobs’ coach Jimmy Roberts about the decision, and he was supportive.

“He understands it,” Lafeyette said. “He said, ‘I can’t get upset that kids want to go play for their father.’ ”

Once Elijah and Malachi decided that they wanted to play a season together under their dad, Lafeyette said the decision was easy.

“I spoke to my parents about it. I spoke to my pastors about it,” Lafeyette said. “Everyone said, ‘It’s a no-brainer. Give them that opportunity, because these are memories that you guys are going to have for a lifetime.’ So it just made sense.”

For Elijah, it will be his third high school in three years. His dad doesn’t think that’s a negative.

“I think a lot of times society puts so much pressure on these kids that things are supposed to be a certain way,” Lafeyette said. “But life changes all the time.”

Lafeyette can relate to Elijah. Lafeyette started at Proviso West, transferred to Downers Grove South and graduated from Glenbard West.

“So I’ve been a product of it,” he said. “What it’s done for me is it’s allowed me to be able to adapt to different cultures and different people. It has its pros and its cons. It’s a different environment for the kids. They’ll have some transition with finding friends and things like that, but Elijah has a driver’s license. He’s going to hang out with his friends out of school anyway.”