BATANGAS CITY—Following a sorry loss to Team Mindanao on Wednesday, the Smart PBA All Stars had a good bounce-back on Friday with a 152-149 victory over Team Luzon in the second leg of the PBA All Stars series at the Batangas City Coliseum here.

But it didn’t go without hitches.

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Smart, made up of Gilas Pilipinas players, dressed up only 8 players and went down to 7 after Allein Maliksi hurt his ankle early in the game. Jio Jalalon also suffered the same injury but returned to the game.

In what's normally a carefree event, Terrence Romeo had a run-in with Luzon’s Arwind Santos in the fourth quarter.

The San Miguel Beer forward gave Romeo a nasty stare following contact after making a layup.

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“Nagkabanggaan lang kami pagkatapos n'yang lumay-up. Nagkatinginan, pero wala naman ‘yun,” said Romeo, who scored a an all-star game record 48 points, including 7 3-pointers, to get the Most Valuable Player nod.

Romeo also showed no signs of the ankle injury he sustained last week.

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“May iniinom lang ako before the game,” he said before being hurriedly ushered to their service bus.

The PBA All Stars series concludes in Iloilo on Sunday.

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