Alex Cabagnot downplayed the heated moment he had with Terrence Romeo early in the opening match of Converge’s eventual loss to San Miguel in Game 1 of their PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup quarterfinal clash on Thursday night.
The 41-year-old understands how competitive the former three-time scoring champion can get after having shared success together with the Beermen some years ago, and that’s exactly why he isn’t making a big deal out of it.
“Terrence is a competitor,” he offered moments after their 102-95 defeat at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. “And I’m also a competitor, too.
“So even though we have some history together – playing together, being on the same team winning championships – we also wanna compete.”
Play stopped at the 1:03-mark of the first when Romeo appeared to have hit Cabagnot at the back of his head as he aggressively defended the latter.
That happened shortly after Romeo nailed a four-pointer against Cabagnot on the other end. The former was then seen on camera saying something to his senior, eventually leading to the referee blowing his whistle.
Nothing untoward happened after that, actually, with the veteran playmaker even approaching Romeo despite the latter appearing adamant.
Officials then assessed a technical foul, leading to a bonus trip to the free throw line for Cabagnot which the lefty did not waste.
“I didn’t know what happened,” the nine-time champ said. “But I just knew that there was a move like that, so I was just like, na-shock din ako. Tumingin ako sa bench ng San Miguel and then they were all laughing. I was laughing too.”
But then, it’s just nothing for Cabagnot as he knows the nature of Romeo, whom he won a pair of league championships with back in 2019.
“To me, it was nothing. Guguluhin ko nga siya ngayon, kung nandiyan pa siya. Bwisit siya,” he added jokingly and with a chuckle, drawing laughter as well from the reporters present. “Pero naka-free throw ako. So OK lang.”
Members of the press tried to get the side of Romeo regarding the matter, but he was unfortunately no longer within the NAS’ premises.
What he’s more concerned about, really, is how he and the FiberXers could adjust for Game 2 on Saturday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, especially after their comeback from as much as 15 points down fell just short.
“You know, with San Miguel, it’s hard to fight an uphill battle with them. So I think we’re gonna look at ano ‘yung mga adjustment namin – when they did get on a little run, how our rotations were, so I think we’re gonna look at that,” he said.
“I know it’s a moral victory catching up pero we have to look at the fact that, when they went on a little run and we couldn’t respond as well,” he added. “Hopefully we get to the drawing board and respond better.”
