Compton hurting, but life goes on

Alaska coach Alex Compton admitted that the harrowing memories of the Aces’ gigantic collapse against the San Miguel Beermen in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals continue to haunt him to this day even as they continue their preparation for the Commissioner’s Cup.

“The way it comes back to me… it’s painful,” Compton said yesterday, breaking his silence more than a week after Alaska became the first team in PBA history to lose a 3-0 lead in a bestof-seven championship series.

“We lost four straight. We’re the team that was up 3-0, and the first team to ever lose (a best- of-seven). Our defense was excellent again, but our offense struggled... that was the story of Game 7,” he added.

Compton cut himself from the outside world immediately after his postgame interview in Game 7, spending several days with his family in Batangas not only to recharge his batteries but to heal himself from the heartbreaking loss.

The former MBA star-turnedcoach said the sight of seeing his three children enjoy the beach was in itself “refreshing,” but still found it hard to move forward.

But Compton said the only way for his team to recover is to keep pushing and give their best effort each game.

That is, as Alaska owner Wilfred Uytengsu likes to say, “play it the right way.”

“That’s always my concern. What are we going to do? How are we going to respond?” Compton shared. “I hope with an effort that honors the game, honors the Filipino basketball fans.

“In this country, there are tens of millions of Filipinos that love basketball, but have real, difficult adversity to go through. As painful as it is, it is painful for me because I am the leader and I love my guys… whose kid was hospitalized with something terminal? Whose house crumbled in an earthquake?

“There are a lot of people out there watching a wonderful sport and a great league called the PBA. I hope that we’ll step up and honor those people and we’ll overcome these adversities.

“When all is said and done, when our lives take us outside of basketball, there is more adversity coming. So what are we going to do? I hope how we respond now will help us as we go down the road with our lives,” Compton said.