Surprisingly, Terrence Romeo greeted embattled former teammates RR Garcia and Jericho Cruz in the post-game interview of his San Miguel’s 88-80 win over TNT, in Game One of their Philippine Cup quarterfinals best-of-three series, Saturday evening.
The flamboyant scorer said it was because he’s good friends with both Garcia and Cruz. Romeo had spent more quality time with his fellow guards during his brief, two-conference stay with the KaTropa last season.
“Mga best friend ko sila eh.
“Normal lang na binati ko sila. Kaibigan ko kasi si Jericho at si RR. Parang normal lang na pagbati sa kaibigan,” said Romeo.
It was Romeo who spoke in the post-game. He had been adjudged the Player of the Game after churning out 15 points – spiked by three triples – along with two rebounds, two assists, and a steal against only one error in 22 minutes.
The three-time scoring champion admitted that he felt excited facing his former team for the first time since getting traded in the off-season. Romeo missed the opportunity to meet them back in the elimination round, as he sat out due to a foot injury.
But Romeo insisted that he had no extra motivation despite facing TNT.
“Excited na makalaro ulit sila,” said the six-year pro out of Far Eastern University. “But no, no, wala. Pareho lang ng lahat nang nilaruan ko na playoffs.
“Same lang, kailangan naming manalo para mag-move forward sa next round.”
Romeo also made it clear that this quarterfinal series isn’t about him facing his former team.
“Ang goal ‘di naman Terrence versus TNT. San Miguel versus TNT,” said the three-time scoring champion, who’s now playing for his third team in the league.
“So ang goal is manalo kami, and thank God binigay niya samin yung panalo.
