MANILA, Philippines – Terrence Romeo is headed to a PBA semifinals for the first time in 3 years.

And as faith would have it, Romeo did so at the expense of former team TNT as San Miguel cruised to a 96-86 win in a do-or-die Game 3 in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Philippine Cup on Wednesday, April 10. 

Romeo and the KaTropa had a controversial breakup when he was traded to the Beermen in the offseason, but he reiterated he treated the series just like any other team he faced. (READ: Romeo: It’s not Terrence vs TNT)

“Normal series lang naman ‘yun eh. TNT is TNT,” Romeo said. “Alam naman natin na talagang competitive ‘yung team na ‘yan. Buti nakapag-ready kami sa kanila.” 

(It was a normal series. TNT is TNT. We all know how competitive that team is. We’re fortunate that we were able to get ready for them.) 

Romeo even tipped his hat to TNT for forcing the best-of-three series to go the distance.

“Hindi birong kalaban ‘yung TNT, maganda rin ‘yung game plan nila. Tapos grabe din ‘yung pressure defense nila kaya nahirapan din kami,” he said.

(It’s not easy to go up against TNT, they had a great game plan. We had a hard time against them because of their pressure defense.)

“Kinailangan namin mag-adjust ng mga bagong plays para mabigyan sila ng ibang looks.”

(We needed to adjust on new plays just so we will give them new looks to defend.)

What’s important to Romeo is he’ll be marching to the semifinals for the second time in his career – the first since the 2016 Philippine Cup back when he was still with NorthPort. 

“Masaya, nakapasok na ulit ng semis. Siguro kailangan lang mag-focus. One game at a time lang,” he said. 

(I’m happy that I’m back in the semis. We just need to focus and take it one game at a time.)

San Miguel has a few days to prepare before it takes on No. 1 Phoenix in a best-of-seven semifinals affair starting Saturday, April 13, at the Mall of Asia Arena. – Rappler.com