Romeo sets career high as GlobalPort shocks Alaska in semis opener

Globalport sparkled in its first ever PBA Final Four game, surprising just about everybody in a wire-to-wire 107-93 win over top seed Alaska at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Monday night.

Three-year pro Terrence Romeo relished the moment, coming through with a career-best 41-point performance as the Batang Pier drew first blood versus the badly stunned Alaska squad in their side of the Smart Bro Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals.

“Best defensive team ang Alaska pero tonight is our night. Aggressive ang mga players namin. Gusto talagang manalo,” said Globalport coach Pido Jarencio.

“Amin ang Game One, pero mahaba ang series na ito. Siguro kailangan maging consistent kami,” Jarencio also said.

The Batang Pier looked every inch seasoned warriors in the series opener, playing with uncanny physical and mental toughness all night long.

“They beat us fair and square. They beat us and they deserved it. Thank God, we’re not in a knockout game,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton.

“We have to be better defensively. Terrence is a tremendous talent,” Compton also said.

Romeo erupted for 22 points in the first half and added 19 in the second as the former FEU hotshot led their juggernaught in the contest where they led by as many as 18 twice.

Billy Mamaril, Stanley Pringle and Keith Jenses also played key roles as they clobbered the Aces in their first game after topping the elims with an impressive 9-2 win-loss card.

The Aces were simply pathetic in their first game in 16 days.

“Every player, every team has a flat game. We’re collectively flat in this game,” rued Compton.

The Aces were woeful from the stripe alone, missing 15 of 33 attempts.

And they just had no answer to Romeo.

The Globalport young scoring machine went 12-of-21 from the field and 11-of-12 from the stripe in surpassing his previous high of 40 points made last year.

Pringle added 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and one block, Mamaril contributed 12 markers, seven boards, four assists, three steals and one block while Jensen chipped in 12 points, including three triples.

By his lonesome, Romeo outscored the entire Alaska starting unit, 22-20, in a magnificent first-half performance giving the Batang Pier a 52-42 lead going into the halftime break.

Romeo sizzled with an 8-of-12 field-goal clip in the opening half, capping it with a brilliant play in the last 0.3 second where he came from outside the paint to convert on a putback a missed charity by Anthony Semerad.

Thus, the Batang Pier regained a double-digit spread at the turn after seeing an early 18-point bulge (24-6) narrow down to three, 29-32, by Alaska’s second group.

RJ Jazul, Chris Banchero, Calvin Abueva and Vic Manuel came strong off the bench to get Alaska into the fight early in the second quarter.

Romeo overwhelmed virtually everybody at the start, shooting from almost everywhere in their swashbuckling 24-6 start.

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