Compton: Aces’ early exit ‘not acceptable’

Alaska head coach Alex Compton. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Upon meeting Terrence Romeo on their way out of the hallways of Mall of Asia Arena, Alaska coach Alex Compton couldn’t stop himself from sharing a light moment with the player responsible for his team’s demise in the 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

“Great shot, you jerk,” Compton said with a laugh to the GlobalPort star, who nailed the game-winning 3-pointer with 8.1 seconds remaining to push Batang Pier into the quarterfinals and knock off the Aces.

GlobalPort won, 107-106, as Alaska missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2012 Governors’ Cup.

Compton may have had a little laugh with Romeo but he knows his team’s early exit is no joke.

“I think we just didn’t get it done and it’s not acceptable,” Compton said. “I’m aware of some factors, but I care not to share them right now.”

“Any factors I’d share will be deemed excuses and I don’t believe in excuse-making, so I won’t make excuses. We’re aware of some reason why. The bottomline is we didn’t get it done and it didn’t meet our standards.”

Compton admits that he’s not prepared for a lengthy vacation, saying that with all due respect to GlobalPort, he expected to be up all night deciphering ways to stop the Ginebra juggernaut in the quarterfinals.

“This is strange country for me. I’m not prepared for this. I didn’t prepare to lose. I was prepared to stay all night reviewing the Ginebra stuff. I’m not used to this. It’s not ok,” he said.

Unfortunately, Compton’s expectations will not be reality as Alaska now faces a long offseason pondering where things went south.

That’s what an eight-game losing streak does to any team. Starting off 4-0 this conference, the Aces seemed to have lost hold of their identity as they bowed out for the first time in nine conferences under the guidance of the American coach.

Compton himself observed the dip in Alaska’s defense as it allowed its foes to shoot 44.8-percent from the field, third-worst in the league, while also hauling down a league-worst 44.0 rebounds per outing.

“I think defensively, we are near the bottom. We needed a couple of stops late, but GlobalPort made their shots today,” he said. “I think the number one thing is our defense is a bit missing-in-action and in spurts, we’re not the best offensive team in the league.”

“We typically play really hard and generate some points off our defense and it wasn’t that it was completely gone, it just was kind of uphill, downhill roller-coaster. To be in this league, you got to be consistent and that’s really my main concern.”

With no other choice but to reassess their current state, Compton said little of what to expect from his team going into the 2017 Governors’ Cup.

One thing is definite, though, the Aces will look at this offseason with a lot of pressure as they seek rebound from the failed campaigns this past two conferences.

“I’m sure we will talk. We don’t lack data or effort in studying film, or the things that are readily obvious for us that I won’t share publicly. We just have to be better,” he said.