Squires’ game evolves as junior
Wonderview Coach Jerod Squires had one thing in mind for his son, Caleb, when he moved him up to the varsity team as a freshman during the 2018-19 season.
Two years later, those plans have been exceeded.
“Since peewee, Caleb’s always been a guy that could score and shoot the basketball,” Jerod Squires said. “That’s kind of what he always was for us when he got on varsity. He was a shooter, and in his very first game at that level, he hit seven threes. But he’s more than just a shooter and a scorer for us now.
“His game has evolved so much since that first year.”
Squires’ evolution is a major reason why Wonderview is among the state’s best in Class 1A.
The junior guard has a knack of producing huge scoring numbers, such as the 27 points he put up against Mount Vernon-Enola as a freshman and his 31-point effort in a victory over Shirley last season. But Caleb Squires added a new dimension to his game over the summer.
“He’s running our point guard spot now,” said Coach Squires, who led the Daredevils to their first state title in 2010. “He worked with [trainer John Parker] this summer a whole bunch when we were quarantined, and it helped him a ton with just his confidence in handling the ball. He’s having to grow from that standpoint running the point, and he makes the guys around him better. I think that’s what really good players do, they elevate the play of those guys around him.
“But again, he’s always been a scorer. So he’s a scoring point guard, and that makes it that much harder for other teams to defend him.”
For the younger Squires, the transition was one he felt was necessary. Basketball has progressed so much over the years, and players are following suit.
“Playing point has been different for me, but it’s something I’ve worked my whole life for,” said Squires, who has a 4-to01 assist-to-turnover ratio. “My freshman and sophomore years, the scouting report for the other team was to make me take more than one dribble, and I wasn’t scoring. This year, I feel like they’ve been making me shoot the ball because now they know I can get by them whenever I need to.
“That’s definitely been an eye-opener of how much my summer with J.P. has helped me. Teams used to be like, ‘Take that away and he’s not gonna score.’ But that’s not the case now. Teams are just hoping I don’t shoot it as well.”
Squires is averaging 19.5 points for Wonderview (14-5, 11-0 1A-4), which hasn’t lost a game in more than a month and all but wrapped up a regular-season district title Thursday with a 77-57 victory over Sacred Heart. The 6-2 standout scored 31 points in that game, one of several in which he’s scored at least 20.
He is also averaging 5 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 40% from behind the three-point line.
An added bonus for the Daredevils has been the emergence of guard Sam Reynolds, who has taken a large chunk of the scoring load off of Squires’ shoulders. The 6-3 sophomore, who started as a freshman, has had multiple outings where he’s delivered offensively, namely a 38-point performance against Scranton two weeks ago.
Opponents have a hard time handling both players. If he or Reynolds find themselves doubled, Squires is confident they will make the right play to put other Daredevils in position to score.
“Distributing the ball is a big thing for me,” Squires said. “Last year, I don’t know if I had a game with over two assists. But I’ve had two or three games with nine-plus assists this year already.
“When teams throw two guys toward me or Sam, both of us can find the open man to knock down the shots that they’ve been working their whole lives to make.”
Wonderview has overcome obstacles this season, such as navigating through a pandemic. Coach Squires said his son missed about a month because of quarantine measures, and the team went through a stretch of 31 days in between games. He said the Daredevils have learned about themselves through adversity.
“I think it helped their focus,” he said. “They realized that we’d better go out there and play our best because we never know if we’ll get quarantined for two weeks. So with all of that, I’ve seen their focus be a little bit sharper.”
The task at hand has never been more clear, said Caleb Squires.
“We want to make a finals run,” he said. “I think we can go as far as we want to go. We’ve got the pieces and talent to do just about anything if we work for it. Of course, nothing is going to be easy.
“But we think we’ve got what it takes to make a deep run in the state tournament.”