Alaska not crying over spilled milk

Alaska does not rue its loss to San Miguel Beer and its exit from the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semifinals.

Head coach Alex Compton said he remains proud of his boys, who pushed the Beermen to the limit despite their crippled roster and various on and off-court issues that hobbled the team.

“I don’t know if there’s much more I can ask for our guys. We overcame a lot.

They faded with a 99-104 setback in Game 4, but Compton is satisfied knowing his wards played their hearts out from start to finish.

“I don’t know if there’s much more I can ask from our guys. We overcame a lot,” Compton said after the Aces failed to end their two-year finals drought.

The Aces survived a lot of adversities before marching to the semifinals.

With an untested and young import in Antonio Campbell, the Aces made an early splash with a seven-game winning streak.

But Calvin Abueva suddenly went incommunicado that prompted management to banish him indefinitely.

Without Abueva, Alaska tapped former import Diamon Simpson and still finished as second seed armed with a twice-to-beat incentive before losing another piece in playmaker Chris Banchero, who went on leave due to family reason.

Stacked against defending champions Beermen, the Aces were quickly decked with a 0-2 series deficit before retaliating in Game Three with an emphatic 125-101 win despite Simpson suffering from a sprained ankle.

“All the things that happened, they didn’t make an excuse. They kept fighting. I’ll go to any war my guys,” added Compton whose top guns Simpson and Vic Manuel also played through a busted lip and a flu, respectively, in Game 4.

Manuel, who had the best conference of his career, also shared the same sentiment.

“After all, despite all the problems we had, we still reached the semis. That alone was an achievement. I’m proud of this team,” he said after a 20-point performance in Game 4.

The 6-foot-4 Manuel proved to be the silver lining in Alaska’s shaky campaign as he topped the Best Player of the Conference derby after the elimination round capped by an impressive 11-game streak scoring 20 or more points.

“We fell short this time but good thing is, there’s always a next conference. We’re not done yet. We’ll be back,” he said.

Alaska last won a championship in 2013 and last made it to the finals in 2016.

With another exit, the Aces could only wait for their day, which Compton believes might be around the corner.

“We’ll just keep fighting. One day, we’ll get that breakthrough,” he said.

Compton refused to disclose the name of their import for the upcoming Governors’ Cup gave his wards a well-deserved break before their training camp resumes early next month.

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