Squires’ determination earns him a POTY nomination

VOLGA, S.D. (KELO) — Sioux Valley senior forward Alec Squires is our third nominee for boys basketball player of the year. The senior’s decorated career was accomplished in a mere three years.

Growth spurts are a common thing amongst high school boys, but for Alec Squires it was an experience that made him miss out on playing for the Cossacks his freshman year.

“Unfortunately, some cartilage at the end of my femurs broke off. And so, we went in, we decided to go through surgery and put some screws in the broken off pieces of cartilage so that it can hopefully get the blood supply that it needed,” Sioux Valley senior Alec Squires said.

Squires would recover from his non-weight bearing injury late in his freshman year just before Sioux Valley’s 2021 state tournament run and his confidence began brewing.

“Coach brought me aside throughout practice and he told me to get the boys a little hype and show off what you got. So towards the end of practice, he actually had the team huddle around a hoop and I had dunked it. And it was it was pretty energetic and it got the boys hyped to lead into the state tournament,” Squires said.

Sioux Valley returned to the class ‘A’ state tournament three times, earning a runner-up finish and two consolation championships. One of which happened this year, where Alec scored 70 points in three games.

“The thing that he came back with heading into his senior season that just really helped our program was his leadership. He was able to take all the newcomers, put them on his shoulders and help lead them on the way,” Sioux Valley head coach Bill Vincent said.

The forward averaged 21 points and ten boards a contest, helping him become Sioux Valley’s all-time leader in rebounds, blocks, dunks, and field goal percentage.

“We were able to use him as a rim runner. A lot of times he led our fast break and and we were able to catch him in transition. One of the biggest natural abilities that he has is his motor, how he runs the floor, how he plays the game at a high level,” coach Vincent said.

Squires finishes his career with more than 11-hundred points. He’ll play at SDSU next season. And we’ll continue to hear from finalists this week, leading up to Saturday’s Player of the Year show.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com.