From teammates to rivals: ex-FEU Tamaraws Garcia, Romeo relish PBA duel

Jane Bracher

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

From teammates to rivals: ex-FEU Tamaraws Garcia, Romeo relish PBA duel
Off the court, they're friends. But on the court, Terence Romeo and RR Garcia are rivals

 

MANILA, Philippines – Right before team warm-ups, when nobody knew that a spectacular night of basketball was upon them, two men had a conversation. 

All grown up, RR Garcia and Terrence Romeo spoke casually on a rainy Sunday night, July 24. The former FEU Tamaraws, whose relationship then as teammates had always been in question and scrutinized under a microscope, updated each other about what’s been going on in their lives. 

Romeo, 24, told Garcia, 26, about his recent Gilas Pilipinas stint and how he still needs rest. Off the court, they maintained, they were friends. But later that night on the court, they were rivals, too.

Romeo and Garcia, who were picked respectively at 5 and 6 in the 2013 Draft, embarked on a dueling classic in a crucial clash between the Globalport Batang Pier and the Star Hotshots, as both teams sought a first win to avoid a 0-3 hole in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup.

The two explosive guards went from chit-chatting to disgracing each other’s defenses real quick – a fiery exchange in which Garcia prevailed.

“I think I saw it as a challenge that I was guarding Terrence Romeo because he’s a real scorer,” he said in Filipino after the game. “You can stop him, but he’ll keep on shooting. He won’t stop. 

Romeo did score. He posted 27 points on 6 triples, amassing that number despite shooting only 9-of-23 overall. Romeo also had 6 rebounds and 6 assists in his comeback from missing the previous game due to stomach flu.

“Even when I was still with Phoenix I guarded him because I know how he plays, and he also knows my game,” shared Garcia, who came into the game dead set on repaying coach Jason Webb for starting him. 

“Off the court we’re friends. But on the court, we have to put the game first and set aside our friendships first. 

In turn, Garcia, who was traded to Star in between conferences, had 26 points on a much more efficient night of 11-of-13 shooting, including the marginal free throws that delivered Star to a 105-102 victory in overtime. Garcia’s performance waxed nostalgic of his UAAP MVP year 6 years ago.

“I know RR is capable of doing all that he did in this game. We probably just need to learn more defensively but it’s always been like that. Whenever we’re facing each other it’s always a shootout,” Romeo said in Filipino. 

“As long as we did our best on the court there’s no problem. Off the court we’re friends.” 

The two, however, looked nothing like friends when each shot over the other’s outstretched arm or capitalized on the other’s misstep to zip past and straight to the hoop for the bucket. 

It was really fun seeing him and Terrence (Romeo) go at it,” Webb said. “Pero mas masaya lang kapag nagmimintis si Terrence tapos nakaka-shoot si RR (It’s more fun when Terrence misses while RR shoots). It looked good. We gave up a lot to get him and he played like the 3 players we traded away combined today. 

Even Romeo’s former FEU coach Nash Racela enjoyed the show.


For now, while both men aren’t playing against each other, they are friends. But one night soon they will become rivals once more, and another chapter will be written. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!