North Allegheny’s Carter Melzer steps up into go-to scoring role

By: John Grupp
Saturday, January 11, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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North Allegheny senior Carter Melzer learned at an early age how to defend himself on the basketball court.

The youngest of five brothers, he grew up in an athletic environment in which “nothing came easy.”

“Being the youngest one, I always got bullied and picked on,” he said. “In basketball, they would always post me up and block all my shots and push me around. But I feel like that developed me to fight through some stuff. It showed me that I need to push back and learn to be stronger.”

So when North Allegheny coach Dave DeGregorio needed someone to fill a huge scoring void left from last season, Melzer was up to the challenge.

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound guard is averaging a team-high 15.2 points, including a career-high 26 against Pine-Richland and 24 in a 66-56 victory at Butler, the Tigers’ first win at their section rival in almost four years.

Melzer, who averaged 3.5 points last season, also leads the Tigers in rebounding at roughly 6 per game and often guards the opposing team’s best player. Last month, he was named to the Skip Coleman all-tournament team at State College after averaging 15 points in two games for the Tigers (5-6, 1-4 in Section 1-6A as of Jan. 9).

“He’s been great. He’s played well,” DeGregorio said. “He scores in the post and on the perimeter and gets us going on both ends of the floor.”

Melzer was hardened by his brothers, who include a pair of Division I football players (Corey at Lehigh and Campbell at St. Francis) and a former standout swimmer at Texas (Casey), who is 10 years older than Carter and the oldest of the Melzer boys.

Melzer knew better than to look for sympathy whenever his brothers were getting the best of him. His dad, Doug, is a former Marine, and his mom, Heather (Peltier), is a champion triathlete and a Fox Chapel and John Carroll Hall of Famer.

Instead, Melzer kept working to get better.

“Everything was a competition,” he said. “Everything. Video games, board games and especially sports. We were always trying to one-up each other. Nothing came easy, in athletics especially.”

North Allegheny knew this season would be difficult, trying to replace nearly 93% of its scoring from last season. Melzer worked on his game during the offseason — as much as possible while playing football for the first time — and scored in double figures in 10 of the first 11 games this season.

“Someone needed to step up into the scoring role,” DeGregorio said. “He understood that in June, and when we were playing, he just sort of started to take over a little bit.”

Said Melzer: “The past two years, I didn’t score at all. … Most of the (offseason) was just preparing mentally to have the confidence to be the guy after so many people left and to pick up that role.”

Melzer, who holds a 4.2 GPA and hopes to attend the Air Force Academy, is trying to lead the Tigers into the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs. They have been competitive but struggled late in games. NA has been outscored in the fourth quarter in 10 of its first 11 games.

“We’ve been right there in every game,” Melzer said. “We just need to put together a better fourth quarter. If we find some depth from the youngers guys, I think we will be set.”

Tags: North Allegheny