Caguioa wins duel with Romeo as Ginebra stops Globalport

Terrence Romeo of GlobalPort (dark) vs Mark Caguioa and Chris Ellis of Ginebra (light). PBA IMAGE by Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines—Mark Caguioa put a stop to Terrence Romeo’s show in the fourth, and towed Ginebra to 109-104 victory over Globalport Thursday in the 2013 PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup.

Not to be outdone by the rookie Romeo, who has been mentioned in the same breath as him, the Kings’ star Caguioa turned in a masterful performance of 29 points—14 in the payoff period.

As Romeo started to heat up for the Batang Pier for a 93-91 edge, Caguioa took matters into his own hands by scoring or assisting in the next the 15 points of the Kings and took the 106-98 lead with 38.7 ticks left.

“For us veterans, we have to show the rookies that we can still keep up with them,” Caguioa, who also had two rebounds and four assists, said after the game.

If not for Caguioa’s heroics, the Kings would’ve slipped in the face of the attack led by the Batang Pier’s rookies Romeo, RR Garcia and Justin Chua.

“They adjusted in the second half, they pressured us. Our players were rattled. We couldn’t run our plays and we took it one-on-one,” said head coach Ato Agustin.

But the Kings, who was even leading 83-66 at the turn of the third quarter, recovered—with a gigantic help from Caguioa, of course—and hiked their record to 3-0.

Romeo, after a 34 point game the last time, showcased how good of a scorer he is anew and wound up with 27 points on a 11-of-16 shooting clip.

Romeo, the youngest player in the league today, led the Batang Pier in the staggering 27-8 run which put them ahead, capped by a basket where he handily shook of his defender Chris Ellis for two.

Garcia, who was also Romeo’s teammate in college, wasn’t so far behind and had a PBA career-best 20 points along with two rebounds, three assists and a steal.

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