Chris Exciminiano vs Terrence Romeo. PBA IMAGES
Chris Exciminiano had the best scoring game of his young PBA career on Tuesday night but the Alaska guard got more gratification from what he did on the other end of the floor.
Exciminiano posted a career-high 19 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting from the field in 23 minutes off the bench, but he paid more attention to his defensive effort in slowing down GlobalPort’s star guard Terrence Romeo.
“Thankful ako sa [career-high], but for me, bonus lang sakin yun. Kasi alam naman natin na role ko more on defense talaga,” said Exciminiano after helping Alaska to clinch its third finals appearance in four conferences.
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“Mas proud pa rin talaga ako sa defense ko. Hopefully, lagi ko nang magawa na dumi-defense ako and at the same time, nakaka-offense.”
The third-year guard was one of the players having the unenviable task of limiting Romeo, who is arguably the best scorer in the league today, in the semifinals series.
Exciminiano played only five minutes in Game 1 where Romeo erupted for a career-best 41 points in a loss by Alaska before seeing significant action for the remainder of the series.
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Playing 23 minutes, his most this conference, Exciminiano made every second count as he also collected five rebounds, one assist, three steals and zero turnovers while also making Romeo work for his points.
Romeo and Exciminiano were college teammates at Far Eastern University for three years and the 27-year-old said he used his familiarity with the Gilas Pilipinas standout to his advantage.
“Nakatulong din kasi magkaibigan kami ni Terrence eh. All throughout college, lagi kaming magkasama niyan so alam ko laro niya, alam niya laro ko. But Terrence is Terrence e, mahirap talaga depensahan yan.”