After the Alaska Aces successfully debuted in the 2018 Governors’ Cup with an 80-72 win over Allen Durham and the Meralco Bolts last Friday, Chris Banchero immediately set his sights on their Sunday clash with the TNT KaTropa.
“Tough, tough. Two of the best guards in the league, we’re gonna have to work extremely hard to try and stop them. They’re really, really good players,” said Banchero, referring to TNT’s one-two punch of Terrence Romeo and Jayson Castro.
Sunday night came. And it turned out that Banchero had a much better outing than the two he warned about.
The 29-year-old floor general’s vision was sharp versus the Texters – he even racked up a career-high 14 assists along with 15 points, six rebounds, and a steal to help the Aces to a dominant 125-96 victory.
“I was really impressed,” said Alaska head coach Alex Compton.
“I think there were a number of possessions he would’ve taken shots, but he chose to get it to his teammate who’s open and that’s something I’m proud of.”
And it was certainly worth it for Banchero not to take those shots.
“It’s easy to have that many assists when guys are on fire, all I gotta do is get the ball to them.
“We came out really strong, it was nice. We got four games in nine days so we wanna get off to a good start,” expressed the Filipino-Italian floor general.
One of his teammates who made him look great was backcourt partner Simon Enciso, who shot nine triples en route to a career-best 30 markers.
“That boy can really shoot it, and that’s his job, to spread the floor,” said Banchero, who had the majority of the Milkmen’s whopping 33 assists.
“Nine is a lot so a little bit [surprised] but that’s his job, he can really shoot.”
Still, Banchero insisted that they still have a lot to improve, even with the masterful showing they put out. He pointed out the way they shot free throws versus the Texters, as they only shot 10-of-17 from the foul line.
‘There’s always room for improvement.
“We’ll watch film tomorrow and build from there. I don’t think we shot that well from the free throw line tonight, we gotta work on that if we want to be a championship team,” said the four-year pro.
