NAMPA, Idaho – The game of basketball literally changed Adalberto Diaz’s life.

After his dad, Gilberto Diaz, passed away when Adalberto was 12, he used the sport as an outlet.

He and his mom, Ruth, lived next door to a gym in Nogales, Ariz., and he spent nearly every day of his youth there shooting hoops.

“My mom didn’t want me to veer off in the wrong direction,” Adalberto (Beto) Diaz said. “She didn’t want a negative outlet, so basketball was something she gave me and said you could do this.

“She knew what she was doing – basketball and school – it helped me go to college and stay on the right path.”

Diaz grew up playing baseball, just like his father, but a growth spurt and the encouragement of his mother helped him excel on the hardwood.

Beto’s dad died of cancer in his kidneys and never got to see him succeed on the basketball court.

“I think it is something that helped him cope with the whole situation,” said Abraham Sneed, Beto’s half-brother. “The very next day after his dad passed away, none of his teammates were expecting him to show up for his game. He showed up and his coach told him he shouldn’t be here, you should be with your family.

“(Beto) told him that this is what my father would’ve wanted him to do – continue living and playing the sport I love.”

Sneed became a father figure for Diaz, who is 10 years younger than his half-brothers.

They pushed him to succeed not just on the court, but in the classroom as well. When Diaz crosses the stage at graduation this spring, he will be the first in his family to earn a four-year degree.

“We grew up through government housing and we weren’t very wealthy,” Sneed said. “Mom said she could provide up to high school and from then on it was up to us to continue working hard and to earn your way through college."

Diaz came to Nampa via Iowa Western Community College. The move to the Midwest made the transition to Idaho easier, because it was the first time he had lived away from home. He starred on the basketball court at his junior college and earned academic all-American honors.

At NNU, after a period of adjustment to the rigors of four-year college life he is again succeeding in the classroom and is hoping to have a big year on the court.

He started 27 of 28 games last season, averaging 7.4 points. He was more of a catch-and-shoot spread-the-floor type player last year, but is being asked to step up in scoring and leadership this season.

“His role is definitely a lot more of one of our go-to scorers,” fellow senior Jayden Bezzant said. “He has also been working on his defense. That is something they sleep on and it is something he is definitely working on.”

Hard work is something Diaz has done his whole life. And it is something that drew coach Paul Rush and the rest of his staff to him during the recruitment process.

Rush gave credit to Diaz for putting in a lot of work and time to improve, especially coming from a family that has not produced any full-scholarship athletes.

The Business Administration major has impressed not only his coaches and his family, but also his hometown. All thanks to the game of basketball.

“It’s been a long road for him and he has earned every bit of it,” Abraham Sneed said. “It is an amazing feeling hearing his name called in the starting lineup and then they mention where he is from, because we are a border town, we only get bad news about us. So, to hear success stories it gives us a sense of pride.”