Romeo explodes to hand GlobalPort first win

MANILA, Philippines – Rookie Terrence Romeo fired 26 points in the second half to lead GlobalPort over Air21, 114-100 in the PLDT myDSL PBA Philippine Cup on Saturday, November 23 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Batang Pier pulled away from a tight game early in the third quarter behind five straight points from UAAP 76 season MVP Terrence Romeo and baskets by Leo Najorda and Jewel Ponferrada, GlobalPort transformed a 50-all deadlock into a 74-60 bubble.

Romeo then punctuated the third period with a step back triple and opened the fourth quarter with five more points as GlobalPort pulled away.

A 13-5 run highlighted by two triples from Jaypee Belencion extended the Batang Pier’s lead to 19, 101-82.

But Air21, like what they did in their first outing, refused to give up and made a run of their own to pull closer, 94-103.

But Romeo once again showed his scoring prowess, nailing seven straight points to give GlobalPort the win.

GlobalPort notched its first victory to improve to 1-1 while Air21 dropped its second straight game in the conference.

Romeo led everybody with a career-high 34 points including 14 in the third quarter where his team started to pull away. He shot 6-of-9 from three point land and added 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

“Every practice I do extra (work) and I listen to the seniors,” said Romeo.

Joseph Yeo and Asi Taulava combined for 45 points to lead Air21 but hardly saw any support from the rest of the crew.

The scores:

GlobalPort (114) – Romeo 34, Washington 19, Mercado 14, Ponferrada 8, Menk 7, Salvador 7, Garcia 7, Belencion 6, Najorda 6, Salva 4, Hayes 2.

Air21 (100) – Yeo 24, Taulava 21, Jaime 13, Canaleta 11, Custodio 8, Manuel 8, Camson 6, Espiritu 3, Sharma 3, Ritualo 3, Menor 0, Arboleda 0.

Quarters: 20-18, 47-46, 83-74, 114-100

– with reports from Levi Verora/Rappler.com