Compton brims with ‘tremendous pride’ for hard-fighting Alaska

MANILA, Philippines – They lost, but they were not defeated. They could never be.

The Alaska Aces fought back from double-digit deficits for more than half the games of the best-of-7 Finals series against top-seeded San Miguel Beermen. They clawed out of those deep holes thrice to steal wins from San Miguel and put themselves in a position to win their first all-Filipino title since 2000.

However, on the fourth time they were trailing by a double-figure margin, in game 7 for the 2015 PBA Philippine Cup championship, Alaska could not pull off what would have been the sweetest comeback of all.

They fell short. They fell one possession, one basket, or two free throws short of winning it all.

But the disappointment of being so close only to miss out was never enough to make head coach Alex Compton feel less proud of this team, the first he’s coached in the PBA.

“I know San Miguel won and got the title but there’s not another group of guys I’d rather coach,” Compton declared following the painful defeat on Wednesday, January 21.

“They didn’t give up. I mean this with no kind of bitterness because I agreed with the predictions that we would be 5th to 8th this conference – but we were a few free throws away from winning the all-Filipino so I’m so proud of these guys.”

It’s easy to see why Compton was so proud, and why this was probably the most beautiful way to lose.

Primed as the underdogs of the series, Alaska lived up to expectation in game 7 and found themselves digging their own 21-point deep grave in the first half.

The Aces were not themselves. They weren’t running their plays, according to Compton, and the vise-like defense was loose and could not contain a hot-shooting and eventual Finals MVP Arwind Santos, along with the rest of the offensive juggernaut that is San Miguel.

“We really fought back. The first half felt like it was game 7 emotions. We played out of all of the emotions that surrounded game 7 and we didn’t play our game,” Compton explained.

“And in the second half we got into the whole Alaska-let’s-come-back. All of a sudden we just broke down. It felt like we were in an emotional shock of being in a game 7 in an all-Filipino. At halftime we snapped out of it.”

The Aces did snap out of their funk as the curtain raised on the pivotal second half.

Right before the third quarter opening buzzer sounded, Calvin Abueva positioned himself for the inbound and determinedly clapped and rubbed his hands together, which the few from the crowd who saw took as Alaska flipping the switch.

Abueva knew it was time for the most important comeback of their conference.

A no-nonsense look plastered on his face, Abueva scored 13 of his 23 points in that third period, allowing the Aces to cut the once daunting lead to a mere 62-59 entering the last 12 minutes of the conference.

Momentum swung to the side of Alaska until midway through the fourth.

A Ping Exciminiano basket on the break tied the count at 68, and an ensuing Cyrus Baguio conversion finally put the Aces on top for the first time since the first half, to the frenzy of Alaska fans clad in white at the Big Dome.

Abueva then scored off a steal and drained a jumper to cap off an 11-0 surge that gave Alaska a 74-68 cushion with 4:20 left in the game.

If recent history was to be considered, it looked like Alaska had already won. The Beermen were caving as they faced the same ghost of games 1 and 3 once more, and Alaska was thriving at their opponent’s fear.

Turns out San Miguel toughened up from experience.

The team who swept Talk ’N Text in the semifinals settled down and kept to their game plan, down by 76-78 with under a minute left. And then Santos happened.

Catching a pass from Alex Cabagnot, the 33-year old forward from Pampanga, playing close to 47 minutes already, forced his legs to make one less shaky jump, and his arms to make one more less stiffer shot.

His follow-through was not the same as usual, but Santos’ three-pointer kissed the bottom of the net, and Alaska was in one-point deficit predicament once more, 79-78, with 43.7 ticks remaining.

“Arwind played almost 47 minutes, to have the legs to make that shot, that’s tough. He deserves credit,” Compton commended Santos’ game-winner. “That’s a huge shot, in a game 7, in an all-Filipino. And he’s a jump shooter. He played 47 minutes of that kind of basketball and he makes that shot – that’s guts.”

For Compton, though, that was not the end of the line yet for Alaska – the team he led to the semifinals in just his first conference with them during the 2014 PBA Governors’ Cup.

“I’m just such a believer. We had timeouts and time. And I still firmly believed in my mind that we can win.”

But the Aces came up with consecutive empty possession. Santos secured the rebound with 24.8 seconds to play after the Aces failed to score. He then split his charities with 18.9 ticks on the clock to notch the final tally.

A missed technical free throw from Dondon Hontiveros after Ronald Tubid was called for a technical foul for excessive timeouts did not help their cause. That missed free throw rounded out a dismal 10-of-25 clip from that line for Alaska in game 7.

JVee Casio, who was relatively quiet this series with an 8-point average highlighted by the lone two scoreless games of his PBA career, had the chance to send Alaska to the promised land with a hurried three-point attempt over the outstretched arms of Tubid.

It was a good look given the 2.8 seconds of time left and the jump ball the preceded it. But his attempt was short, and he wound up with just 7 points.

“You dig yourself that hole, you can only do it (come back) so many times,” Compton said.

He tried to articulate how he felt right after the game, but could not quite find the right words he felt would justify it.

“I can’t really describe it. It’s like this weird mixture of tremendous pride in the way that our guys fought back, and tremendous disappointment in not closing it out. The disappointment is more about the result than the effort.”

Compton felt for the veterans of the team as well. Of the 14-man roster, only big man Eric Menk had ever won an all-Filipino championship, which is widely considered the most prestigious title among the 3 conferences each season.

“We got some vets I really wanted to see get their first all-Filipino. We had some guys who played 14 years and had no all-Filipino yet and I really wanted them to win one. And we were one possession away,” he lamented.

As the post-game press conference wore on, Compton found more words to describe the heartbreaking defeat.

“It’s kind of getting punched in the gut where it makes you feel sick to your stomach,” he said.

“It’s really weird because in the midst of that pain, there’s still this tremendous pride for their effort and what they’ve done. I have required a lot of everybody on our team. We have I believe the hardest practices in the league. And they brought it, and they accepted it, and they did it, and I feel sick and sad that I didn’t get us the shot to really win the game.”

The Aces will have less than a week to recover and get up on their feet once again, as the mid-season and import-laden Commissioner’s Cup is slated to begin on January 27.

But Compton won’t take away few days of rest and recovery from his guys, if only to just heal and move on – even if they end up cramming for the next conference.

“We’re gonna need a few days to lick our wounds and get over this. This is gonna painful.”

Considering their entire Philippine Cup journey of going through the long way in the playoffs, having overcome more double-digit deficits in the eliminations, and simply proving they were worth more than a 5th to 8th ranking in the pre-season predicions, Compton feels Alaska did well.

In fact he was not the picture of a broken man as he entered the press room. He wasn’t smiling, naturally. But he also wasn’t disheartened. He simply looked proud.

“You don’t get this close at this point and feel successful. But I wouldn’t say it’s a failure.” – Rappler.com