Ross: ‘Competitor’ Wilkerson hated to lose
Chris Ross. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Knowing how tough of a competitor Tyler Wilkerson is, Chris Ross understands the frustrations of the San Miguel’s beleaguered import.
“He’s a competitor, that’s in everyone’s blood. Everyone wants to win. Everyone hates to lose, especially when your goal is to win the championship,” he said.
Teammates with Wilkerson since their days in Marshall University, Ross knows how hard was it for the volatile reinforcement to suffer two close defeats to Rain or Shine in the first two games of their best-of-5 semifinals series.
“We’re losing in the semi-finals and everyone’s getting mad,” he said.
And that came to a head last Tuesday, when Wilkerson blew his top and walked out of the Beermen following their 98-96 Game 2 defeat to the Elasto Painters.
Ross said that the high-scoring import has already apologized to the management for his actions and has accepted his fate.
“I don’t fault what he did. He’s a competitor and he wants to win. I think he apologized to us, to the coaches and to the management.”
Still, Ross is thankful for Wilkerson, who averaged 36.6 points, 14.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.1 blocks, and 1.4 steals for the conference, for bringing San Miguel this far in the conference.
“We wouldn’t be in this position without him. We wouldn’t be in first place in the eliminations without him,” he said. “We’re still gonna play for him and we’re gonna play for very one else. We’re just going to play hard.”
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