Sports

Nevada’s star twins get their grit from mom, who sacrificed it all

Jenny Bennett could only make it a few words before breaking into laughter.

Two days earlier, she was “having a heart attack” in Nashville, Tenn., watching her twin sons, Caleb and Cody Martin, lead Nevada to a 22-point comeback — the second biggest in NCAA Tournament history — win against No. 2 Cincinnati. Two days before that, the No. 7 Wolf Pack erased a 14-point second-half deficit, then beat Texas in overtime.

Now, Bennett’s heading with her family to Atlanta for the South Region semifinals to watch her sons in the Sweet 16 against No. 11 Loyola-Chicago.

“It’s overwhelming,” Bennett told The Post. “I can’t describe how awesome this experience has been. It’s well beyond our expectations of how the season would go.”

Back when she was raising the boys in Cooleemee, N.C. — a town with less than 1,000 people, and one “thing to do,” according to tripadvisor — Bennett rarely thought beyond the day.

They lived in a trailer; a couple hundred square feet shared by the single mother, her three sons, and a never-ending parade of insects.

There was an eviction. There were nights huddled around a heater at the Martins’ grandmother’s home, where the boys would alternate who slept in the one bed each night.

Bennett worked three jobs so her sons had enough to eat. She’d lie, and say she wasn’t hungry, so her boys had more to eat. She went to work in the dark of morning just to be back in time to see her sons’ games in the afternoon.

Before the biggest tipoff of their lives, the 6-foot-7 juniors will remember why they are there.

“I think the biggest thing for us is seeing her go through that and her sacrificing what she had to sacrifice for us to allow us to do what we want to do,” Cody said before the second round. “Every time we step on the court, every time we practice, everything like that, it’s bigger than just us.

Caleb added, “The way we grew up, nothing was ever given … She’s instilled that kind of, you got to earn everything, mentality. Just the way she got it.”

Bennett believed her sons might be special athletes as early as the second grade, and was constantly tasked with separating the hypercompetitive brothers from fighting.

A game of Madden football could end with a fist through a wall. Still, Caleb and Cody can’t guard each other in pickup games without basketball becoming football.

Today, they share a car, an apartment and classes, plus a hairstyle and a beard.

“They first didn’t have a choice but to be inseparable, but then it grew to this is what we love, and we love each other,” Bennett said. “They’re brothers, and their bond is unbreakable.”

Caleb Martin leads the Wolf Pack this season with 18.8 points per game.Getty Images

Everything isn’t identical.

Caleb is the team’s top scorer, and the Mountain West Player of the Year. Coach Eric Musselman describes Cody as a “utility baseball player,” who leads the team in assists, was the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, and moved from power forward to point guard in February after a team injury.

When the brothers decided to transfer from N.C. State after two seasons — sitting out last season — Musselman stood out by focusing on the less-heralded Cody.

“I knew that Caleb already had all the love from everybody,” Musselman said. “We recruited Cody harder than we recruited Caleb, and I think his mom really appreciated that. Obviously, Cody did.”

Before Bennett leaves for Atlanta, she has started thinking about going to the Final Four in San Antonio.

She continues laughing.

“My goal for them was just to graduate college,” Bennett said. “I didn’t know it could be to this degree, and the stage that they’re on. I’m just so very proud of them, and how humble they are, and they understand their beginnings, and where they’ve come from, and the struggles.

“I’m the first to tell them, there’s someone better than you. So if you get complacent, you’re gonna get passed over, and passed by, so you have to continue to work hard and stay focused and sacrifice. You sacrifice now for later, and I think some of that sunk in a little bit.”