ASI Taulava had the last laugh against Terrence Romeo on Friday night as NLEX eked out a 110-105 victory over GlobalPort in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup duel.
Taulava banged his way to 13 points, nine boards, and one block in 29 minutes, but the Road Warriors failed to find an answer for Romeo, who torched them with 27 points highlighted by eight triples in 29 minutes in his first game back from a calf injury.
But Taulava was relieved as the Road Warriors still escaped with the win at the expense of his young Gilas 2.0 brother’s team, which got eliminated from postseason contention.
“That's my little bro,” Taulava said of Romeo. “Terrence is phenomenal. He can score at will whenever he wants to. When he starts knocking those three balls like that, that makes it harder. We don't know if we're gonna double or just shadow him.”
[See Romeo doesn't mind long minutes in comeback game]
The last two of Romeo's eight treys pulled the Batang Pier to within three points twice, the last at 108-105, with 10.2 seconds left, the last gasp in a comeback that fell just short.
“We didn't know how to stop him,” Taulava continued. “That's how good Terrence is and what he brings to the table for GlobalPort. He almost gave them a chance to beat us.
“But looking at the bright part, we're glad that we've put them down there lower, that way they don't make the playoffs,” he added with a chuckle. “We just got lucky we won.”
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