RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
Experiencing an up-and-down conference so far in the Commissioner’s Cup, Alaska coach Alex Compton said that all he wanted on Tuesday was a win.
“I can take the beatings but not the way we played. Tonight, we played better,” he said.
And that mentality rubbed off on his players, with Chris Banchero at the forefront.
The rookie had 14 points, nine coming in the payoff period, to go with seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals in Alaska’s 107-100 victory over San Miguel Tuesday.
Banchero said that redemption wasn’t really on his mind when he got to the game.
“We just needed a win. Of course, we want to get back at San Miguel. But after how we played against GlobalPort, we needed a win,” he said.
Getting into the giant shoes left by the injured JVee Casio, Banchero says that he’s just following coach Alex’s orders.
“I’m just doing what coach Alex wants me to do. I’m not worried about scoring or making assists, I just want to make the right play everytime on the floor, every possession to just do the right thing,” he said. “You don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”
Now he hopes that Alaska could bank on this victory and come out better in their coming games.
Banchero said, “Just on the defensive end, we have to bring more pressure just like what we did last conference. We’re sluggish so I hope we could build on this one.” (RL)
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