ALEX Compton was in church on Sunday when Blackwater and GlobalPort were facing off in Antipolo in a crucial PBA Governors’ Cup matchup, the result of which would also determine Alaska’s fate.
The Batang Pier simply had to beat the Elite for the Aces to resuscitate their flat-lining playoff campaign.
“I was praying before I got to church, but when I was in church, I was definitely praying,” Compton said in a chat with SPIN.ph after practice on Monday.
Unfortunately, the Aces’ coach’s prayer wasn’t answered as the Elite went on to score a 118-107 victory to book their playoff ticket and complete the postseason cast in the process, eliminating the Batang Pier and the Aces.
“Blackwater really earned the win, so they did a good job,” Compton said.
The American tactician didn’t mind their fate lay in the hands of a game that the Aces weren’t a part of. What he was angry about was his wards failed to firmly seize what they could control, suffering a 28-point beating at the hands of Meralco in a virtual do-or-die game last Wednesday that snapped their three-game win streak and dropped them to 3-7 on the verge of elimination.
“I told the guys, I was so mad after the Meralco game,” Compton said. “I mean, Meralco deserves credit. They played well, but I thought in a game where we needed our best effort, we brought less than our best, and I was about as mad as I had been with this team.”
“The season’s over at the sound of that last buzzer on Wednesday,” he added. “We’re done for the whole season, and there’s going to be a whole lot of time for looking back and analyzing, and reflecting, and we got to make us better.”
Despite their encouraging late stand this conference where the real Alaska team showed up, Compton admitted they still fared way below expectations – notwithstanding a handful of close losses.
“I think the bottom line was we didn’t squeeze out wins and a few games that we really needed that were crucial,” Compton said. “It’s been a crazy conference. It’s been a crazy year. It was not an acceptable level for Alaska standards.”
Now already out of contention, the Aces try to play the spoilers’ role against Rain or Shine, a team jockeying for a favorable playoff spot, in their game on Wednesday.
“We don’t have a chance, but we’re still going to compete on Wednesday,” Compton said.
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