Terrence Romeo schools young Alec Stockton

Terrence Romeo gave Alec Stockton a lesson on the court. Then he schooled him off it.

Romeo gave the irreverent Stockton a master class, dropping 22 points on an efficient 7-of-11 clip to help the San Miguel Beermen sweep the Converge FiberXers in their best-of-three quarterfinals matchup over the weekend. The Bro, who got into an altercation with Stockton in Game 1, then put his fellow FEU alum on blast in the post-game presser. In no uncertain terms, the three-time scoring champ reminded the young FiberXer to talk the talk but walk the walk.

“Lagi kaming naglalaro nyan [Alec Stockton] sa mga pick-up games. Ganoon talaga ang attitude ni Alec—talagang matapang. Ako rin ganoon din, so pareho kaming hindi nagba-back down,” said Romeo. “Pero yun nga, sinabihan ko si Alec kanina, make sure na pagnag-gaganun ka [trash talk], kailangan nakakapag-produce ka pa rin sa team mo. Hindi pwedeng naka-focus ka sa ganun tapos wala kang production sa team.”

Unfortunately, Stockton did not produce for his team. Not in Game 1, when he scored only 2 points in 17 foul-plagued minutes. Neither in Game 2, when he put up just 5 points on a paltry 2-of-10 shooting. Romeo, in contrast, was solid in Game 1 (13 points and 3 assists) and sensational in Game 2, clearly getting better and better after missing nine months of action due to a back injury.

Stockton, of course, is fast getting a reputation not only as a pesky defender, but also as an instigator—someone who likes to talk smack and provoke opponents. And, incidentally, Romeo is not the first one Stockton has challenged. In the 2021 Philippine Cup, Stockton also got into it with another Beerman, Chris Ross, in an early demonstration of that devil-may-care, no-back-down attitude Romeo alluded to.

To be fair, The Bro did give Stockton props, describing him as “sobrang talented.”

But he might want to focus on being consistently good first before talking all that smack.