Dalton Nice is a special talent on the basketball court.
The Quakertown senior can burn teams from the outside or take the ball to the hole, and if there’s a flaw in his game, it might be the fact that he’s too unselfish.
“For years, it’s been ‘Dalton, please shoot the ball,’” coach Kevin Keeler said. “You very rarely have to tell a kid that, but that’s him.
“He doesn’t want to force it or be selfish, but he has the tools to get the job done. For three years, we’ve been telling him to shoot more.”
Nice, it seems, has a simple philosophy when it comes to shooting the basketball.
“I usually just let it come to me,” he said. “I’d rather win more than anything else. If I can’t get the shots, it’s not a big deal.”
On Tuesday night, the Panthers defeated Central Bucks East 62-43, and Nice reached a personal milestone – surpassing the 1,000-point plateau when he converted a three-point play in the second half.
The game was halted, and Nice was presented the basketball, which he immediately gave to his father – Jeff Nice.
“I can’t really describe the feeling,” he said. “I was nervous at the beginning of the game because I knew I had a chance to get it, and I wanted to get it on our home floor.
“I missed shots early, but I just let it come to me, and it happened. It’s probably one of the greatest thrills I’ve ever had.”
Nice needed 16 points entering the game to reach the historic milestone. He finished the game with 22 – the number he mistakenly thought he needed when the game began.
“My assistant coach told me I needed 22, so I was really surprised when they said my name,” Nice said. “They stopped the game, and when they said I’d scored a thousand, I was shocked.”
A rare four-year starter, Nice is the sixth Quakertown male player to reach the 1,000-point plateau, joining Rob Gluck, Harley Moyer, Jack Znotteng, Dave Young and Ed Becker. He is only the third player in Keeler’s 27-year tenure at Quakertown, and his first non-center to reach that milestone.
“Dalton’s work ethic is unsurpassed by anyone I have ever coached,” Keeler said. “He missed a summer tournament as a sophomore because of a family vacation out west, and he forced his family to take his weight set along so he could continue training and lifting.
“He’s very goal oriented, very meticulous, and he’s so unselfish.”
Keeler acknowledged that he knew early on he’d inherited a special talent.
“As a freshman, he had the body to play in the Suburban One League with the varsity guys,” the Panthers’ coach said. “He won a couple of games even back then for us.
“I knew as a senior he had a chance to be a 1,000-point scorer if he didn’t get hurt and stayed at it, which I knew he would.”
Nice got his start in competitive sports playing midget football. Basketball entered the scene when he was in fifth grade, and after playing three sports – football, basketball and baseball – in middle school, he opted to focus on basketball when he was a freshman.
The results speak for themselves.
“I wasn’t really that good in middle school, but I went to the park a lot, and just playing older guys there made me competitive,” Nice said. “I just wanted to get good, so I worked hard.”
It was during his days in the park that Nice, who is generously listed at 6-1, developed his deadly outside shooting ability.
“When I was younger and playing the older guys, it was really physical going inside, so I would tend to shoot threes more,” he said. These days Nice is equally comfortable shooting from beyond the arc or driving to the hole.
“He’s a catch-and-shoot guy,” Keeler said. “He is so strong, and he’s getting better driving to the basket.
“Between his mid-range game, the three-point shot and the drives – he’s become a complete player.”
Nice has caught the eye of more than a few college coaches.
“Last year when we had the Division One scouts come in to look at Brett Roseboro, they all left talking about Dalton,” Keeler said. “If he was three inches taller, he would be a Division One player.
“They loved his game. He’s a pretty special kid.”
Although Nice is getting serious looks from numerous Division II and III programs, the Quakertown senior would not say for certain that he will play at the next level.
“I’m still debating that because I want to concentrate on my schoolwork,” he said. “It’s hard to say. You go to college for (the academics), so that’s my main focus.”
Nice plans to major in exercise science with his sights set on becoming a personal trainer or physical therapist, but for now, he is focused on his final high school season.
“We want to get back to districts,” he said. “We went last year for the first time in four years, and we got crushed by Lower Merion, but we got that taste, and we want to get back.
“We’d like to get a home game this year.”
Nice will undoubtedly have a say in just how far the Panthers will go this season, and Keeler acknowledged he wants the ball in his sometimes reluctant star’s hands.
“There are only so many shots in a game, and you have to get the ball to Dalton,” the Panthers’ coach said.
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