Alaska guard Chris Banchero missed a jumper, turned the ball over and committed a personal foul just a minute and 19 seconds after he was inserted into the game against Star late in the first quarter Wednesday night.
Banchero’s woes continued in the second quarter after he clanked two more jumpers and had another turnover before he was subbed out.
READ: Alaska rallies from 18 points down to stun Star in semis game 1
Hard to believe that at the end of the night, Banchero wound up as one of the Aces’ heroes in their comeback win over the Hotshots in their semifinals opener Wednesday.
“Chris is a really good player but he started off very, very shaky,” said import Romeo Travis. “And I told him that ‘just calm down, be your normal self and don’t let them steal your aggressiveness.'”
The Filipino-Italian rookie took Travis’ advice to heart and it made all the difference in helping Alaska rise from 18 points down.
“In the second half, he came off aggressive, he came out really playing good defense and he’s the Chris that we all know and love,” said Travis, who considers Banchero as one of his best friends in the team.
“Romeo told me during the half to just start playing more free so I took that with me into the second half,” Banchero said.
After a forgetful first half, the 26-year-old rookie gathered himself up and was able to turn his fortunes around in the final two quarters where he scored all of his 10 points without a single turnover. He also finished with five rebounds and three assists.
“He did a really good job for us in the second half pushing the ball in transition, getting the ball up in the rim, getting us some good shots,” Alaska head coach Alex Compton told reporters.
Compton also praised Banchero’s commitment to be a better player especially on the defensive end.
“The thing that I really appreciate about Chris is that Chris was never a defender and he told me so himself and he’s become a much better defender,” said Compton.
“He’s really committed, really committed to become an excellent defensive player and that’s a character move. He’s made that effort with a lot of guys in the team to become a much better defensive player.” CFC
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