The Romance of Terrence Romeo

Rise and tune out the semantics
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

In last Wednesday evening's main game, a GlobalPort Batang Pier rookie decided to make a name for himself. That being said; he didn't make a name by appeasing his many, amateur career haters-- no. He made a name for himself by simply playing the way he has the last few years.

Thy name is Terrence Bill Romeo.

High-octane, fast-paced, fading away, crossover, spin move three, one-on-one, one-on-two... one-on-five basketball. What he gave up on inches, he made up for with grit and a will to win. How many point guards can you name that would nonchalantly drive into the lane and absorb Street Fighter Zangief piledriver style contact from both Junemar Fajardo AND Arwind Santos? He was blocked several times and had his shot altered by Petron Blaze's bloodhounds, but this didn't deter him from who and what he was.

You see, people have been so " basketball (mis)educated" thanks to the Internet and social media that they readily dismiss players who don't "play the right way" as "selfish," "immature" or even a "cancer" to any and all basketball teams. Now when you see a flashy player like Romeo coming out of the wood work who is built like a PBA point guard, you want to see assists zipping from one corner to lead to a Sol Mercado power drive or an alley-oop to an air born Jay Washington.

You shriek in terror and vexation when the passes don't come and what you get is either an air ball or a desperation heave.

But when the shots do fall in, or when you take a minute to see the effort, hunger and bravery, then you realize that you are watching a superstar in the making.

In 26 minutes off the bench, Romeo managed to score 13 points on 15 attempts-- second most for the Batang Pier behind Washington.He missed (15) more than he made (5) on field goals and was surprisingly subpar at the stripe going 3 of 8.

But he did all of that, while playing at a break neck pace and just pushing the tempo for Batang Pier despite being coached by Richie Ticzon to play alongside half court enforcers Jondan Salvador and Leo Najorda (solid bigs but are not meant to run with thoroughbreds like Romeo unless the overall design is for Romeo to look like Allen Iverson in Philadelphia circa 2001).

Moving forward, we hope that Coach Richie adjusts his system some more and finds a balance between all his rugged yet aging bigs and the slew of athletic wings and high scoring guards. Money's on the Batang Pier going fast, Denver Nuggets' "share the wealth" style while still having an enforcer on the floor.

Will he ever learn to make decent plays and not pass the ball only when forced to? Will he blossom into an all around, elite point guard like his rival/ bff/ FEU and Batang Pier teammate R. R Garcia?

It's still too early to tell, but one thing's for sure, Terrence Romeo can flat out ball.

(Box score statistics courtesy of http://pba.inquirer.net/boxscore/34295)