Terrence Romeo rues injury in underwhelming San Miguel debut

Underwhelming San Miguel debut for Terrence Romeo. PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—It wasn’t the dream debut Terrence Romeo hoped for when he arrived at San Miguel.

Romeo joined a talent-laden team comparable to the Philippine national team but instead of going off in a blaze of glory, the Beermen suffered a shock 124-118 loss to ragtag Columbian in their first game of the 2019 PBA Philippine Cup.

Aside from the setback, Romeo also injured his left ankle after landing on Rashawn McCarthy’s foot with 18 seconds left in the third quarter.

Romeo wasn’t able to go back into the game as the pain forced him to sit out the fourth quarter.

“Of course I’m disappointed with how it ended,” said Romeo in Filipino Friday at Cuneta Astrodome. “I wasn’t able to help my team.”

“I tried to go back, I tried to force my body but I thought that if I play with a bum ankle I’d do more harm than good because I won’t be able to run in defense and in offense I won’t have that quick first step.”

Romeo, a three-time scoring champion, scored just seven points on 2-of-7 shooting and dished out four assists in his first game for the Beermen after he was traded from TNT.

It’s also a new atmosphere for Romeo who now has teammates like June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, Alex Cabagnot, and Christian Standhardinger who all can change a game’s momentum on a whim.

Romeo played just 12 minutes in the game and he admitted that he was still adjusting to San Miguel’s system and he wished that he would be left out of too much scrutiny.

“I’m still adjusting to the system and actually I really don’t like all these eyes on me, I just want to play basketball,” said Romeo.

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