San Miguel backcourt takes a hit anew as Terrence Romeo hurts foot

San Miguel guard Terrence Romeo. PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel’s backcourt took another hit after point guard Terrence Romeo suffered a foot injury during the Beermen’s game against Phoenix in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup on Friday.

Romeo played for a little more than 10 minutes in the first quarter before getting subbed out after complaints of pain in his right foot. Even without their star guard, Beermen handily won 110-80.

The league’s leading scorer, who is averaging 22.2 points per game prior to his injury, will miss the Beermen’s next game against Magnolia on Sunday.

Romeo’s foot was eventually taped up following his exit but the Beermen elected to keep the star guard out of any further trouble.

“The physical therapist will fully assess what happened to him and when I saw that Terrence’s foot was taped up I figured that I wouldn’t want to aggravate it by putting him back in,” said Beermen head coach Leo Austria.

Romeo is the second of the Beermen’s core to fall to injury this season with Alex Cabagnot nursing a torn meniscus in his left knee.

The Beermen, who now hold a 6-3 record, have two more games in their schedule and that will leave Austria to push reserve guard Paul Zamar into heavier minutes in the absence of Romeo and Cabagnot.

“We have the opportunity to field in more players like Paul and his confidence should be developed for the coming games,” said Austria.

Zamar, who averages less than eight minutes a game, played extensively against the Fuel Masters logging in 21:22 and scoring five points on 2-of-6 shooting with three rebounds and two assists.

“Alex is not close to returning, maybe Terrence too, but I’m praying that their injuries are not too serious,” said Austria.