Alliance's Mike Peltz commits to play basketball at WNCC

Alliance's Mike Peltz dream is to play Division I basketball and he realizes that to get there, he needs to still improve his basketball.

That is why Peltz is starting the road to his dream at the junior college level after verbally committing to Western Nebraska Community College late last month.

Peltz had one of his best seasons at Alliance averaging 22 points and eight rebounds a game. He nailed around 40 3-pointers as the Bulldogs finished runner-up to Sidney at the Class B-6 district tournament.

"I would say this is the best year I had," he said. "I matured a lot as far as physically, even more so then the year before."

Peltz said the Gering and North Platte games are his most memorable this year.

"I would say Gering in the first round of districts because that was a hard-fought game that we won at the end. It was a pretty exciting game," he said. "Then when I scored my 1,000 point and that was against North Platte."

Peltz realizes that to get to his dream -- the Division I level -- he needs to continue to improve his basketball skills. That is why he choose WNCC as the first step to that goal.

"I choose WNCC because the level of competition is really good and I just wanted to further my basketball career whether it be at the junior college level or wherever," he said. "My ultimate goal is to play Division I basketball and this is a good starting place for me."

He also has plenty of relatives attending WNCC as well. His brother TJ is attending WNCC while his cousin Jake is a member of the Cougar baseball team.

Still, he was looking elsewhere but decided that WNCC can help him achieve his goal at playing at a bigger four-year institution.

"i could have went Division II but my ultimate goal is to play Division I and that is a huge reason I went there," he said. "i could have went to Chadron State and I talked to Eastern Wyoming College and Hastings. I also talked to some other schools, but nothing too serious."

One of the reasons he choose WNCC is because of the coaches -- head coach Russ Beck and assistant coach Gianno Bianconi.

"i really enjoy the coaches," he said. "I got to know Coach Beck over the past year, but I known Gianno since Coach [Brian] Joyce was here. i really like both the coaches and i get along with them well."

Peltz said by coming to WNCC, he will be able to improve his shooting and defense.

"I have to become a better shooter," he said. "I also have to learn to play more uptempo-style of defense, which I know Coach Beck stresses that a lot and that is a key. Also, it is just a good feeling to play with guys that are better than me and I when I start playing with them, it will bring out more stuff I need to work on."

Ever since Peltz picked up a basketball when he was about four years old, he fell in love with the sport. Peltz did play play football in high school and was an all-conference wide receiver, but his senior season was cut short after he sprained his MCL the second game of the year last fall against McCook and missed four game.

"I could have played football and I talked to Chadron a little bit, but I love basketball and there was no way I was going to play football," he said.

Peltz's dream school to play at is the University of Southern California, which former Cougar and Mitchell High graduate Ty Reuter played at in the late 1990s.

"I want to get as high as I can. I definitely want to play at the Division I level and play as high as I can go," he said.

Peltz does have one more game in his Alliance High jersey as he was selected to play in the Panhandle Prep all-star game the last of May. Some of Peltz's teammates on that team include some of the prolific scorers in the region including Hay Springs' Lars Backward and Chadron's Zac Bargen.

"That game will be a lot of fun just because you get to play with players that you played against," he said. "I played against a lot of them. But to be on the team with some of the guys that I competed against will be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to that."