The Alaska Aces not only lost their clean slate – there are also doubts about the health of their import Mike Harris.
Harris, the oldest import in this conference’s batch of reinforcement at 35 years old, crumpled in pain during the third quarter of Alaska’s game against the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. The 6-foot-4 guest player tweaked his right ankle with 1:09 left of the said quarter and did not return to the game.
He finished with 23 points and 19 rebounds in just 32 minutes of game time.
When pressed for an update on his import, coach Alex Compton disclosed that it was tough to tell the degree of Harris’ injury.
“It’s hard to tell tonight,” Compton said about Harris, who is averaging 20.67 points, 16.67 rebounds, and 2.33 assists per game.
Losing Harris was tough, especially on the defensive end, as Justin Brownlee and Japeth Aguilar completely had their way with the Aces, leading to a 101-109 loss.
“Obviously, that happened in a big moment of the game. We were having a hard time with them all game. They were doing a great job,” shared Compton.
“But then, end game.
“Justin and Japeth, in the second half might have beat us by themselves. I mean, what do they have? Justin had 30-something and Japeth had 20-something in the second half,” added Compton, as the duo combined for 69 points.
Alaska will have a 26-day break before returning to the hard court. And Compton is hoping that it will be enough time for Harris to recover.
“I told him, he’s got some impeccable timing. If you choose a time to get injured, do it before a 26-day break, that’s for sure. So, he was. Things like that happen. It was a clean play, just guys spraining their ankles,” he expressed.
“Hopefully, it was just a sprain, good thing we got an awesome medical team and we’ve got 26 days. That really helps.”
