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The San Miguel Brewers title fight inside the PBA bubble took a major hit, as guard Terrence Romeo will be out six to eight weeks after dislocating his right shoulder.
Romeo suffered the injury when he collided with Ryan Reyes in the second quarter of their 107-88 loss to TNT on Friday.
“I waited for him to come back from the hospital last night because I wanted to talk to him,” said coach Leo Austria. “Unfortunately, he will be out for the rest of the tournament because the diagnosis is that he will miss six to eight weeks to rehabilitate and strengthen his shoulder.”
Romeo started the game against Tropang Giga and already had 11 points, anchored on three of four shots from the three-point zone when he suffered the injury. He stayed on his bench for a few minutes, but was eventually taken to The Medical City in Clark for tests where the bad news was confirmed.
“Right now, our goal is to help him get back to trying to fix how he can get home because he needs the support of his family. He is very frustrated at the moment,” Austria added. “We talked until 2am last night. I was wondering ‘Coach, why me and why now?’ because he really prepared for this conference. “
Austria added that Romeo was the Beermen’s best-conditioned player before the restart began and that he did not miss any of his practices.
Without their most valuable player in June, Mar Fajardo, who continues to recover from a leg injury, the Beermen will now have to figure out how to move on without Romeo after losing their first two games inside Clark’s bubble.
“We signed Gelo Alolino and Wendel Comboy before the season started and I hope they can contribute now that Terrence will not be with us here,” Austria said. “We know what Alolino can do and Wendel was a good player in college who just needs more professional experience before he can really contribute.”
The Brewers will have a two-day break before returning to action Monday against Terrafirma Dyip, who has yet to win.
“It’s another big challenge for us,” admitted Austria. “Our core is not getting any younger and our great man, Mo (Tautuaa), is still trying to adjust to his new role as a leading great man, but we still believe in each other and will still do our best to defend the championship.”
