The Beermen earlier said Romeo is out with a back spasm as they played the first three games of the Philippine Cup without him.

Team management disclosed the high-scoring guard is suffering from a slipped disc and could still be out for the next two months. It turned out the injury was a little more serious.

Coach Leo Austria bared that the former scoring king is expected to miss games in the upcoming PBA Philippine Cup due to back spasms.

“He was not able to practice in the last few weeks because of his back spasms,” he said during the league’s Media Day Thursday at Novotel Manila Araneta.

“We don’t know yet how many games. We’re giving him ample time to recover one hundred percent,” the four-time Coach of the Year added.

Romeo has not been practicing with the team for weeks now, according to Austria, following the doctors’ advice for him to rest at home. The 30-year-old was not with SMB in the Media Day.

“Mga four weeks na siyang not practicing with us dahil nahihirapan siya tumayo. Kapag spasms sa lower back mo, every movement involved yan, so mahirap.

“He was advised by the doctors to rest,” he said. “Nasa bahay lang siya.”

This marks yet another setback for Romeo.

It could be recalled that he dealt with a pair of injuries in the last two seasons, first a dislocated shoulder early in the 2020 Philippine Cup bubble in Clark and then a knee injury in the following all-Filipino conference.

Austria admitted that Romeo’s absence is a big loss to San Miguel, but at the same time optimistic, as it will be an opportunity for the others to step up.

“The loss of Terrence in the first few games means it will give additional time to the minutes of other players,” he said.

“So they’re preparing for that.”

Two other key players – Chris Ross and Vic Manuel – are on San Miguel’s injury list.

Ross hurt his right knee a week ago although he was spared of an ACL injury, while Manuel strained his calf.

Both Ross and Manuel missed the team’s game against Barangay Ginebra Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

In the recent games, Ginebra held on in the endgame to deal San Miguel’s first loss with 75-72, on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Standhardinger finished with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, capping his night with a hard drive to the basket that broke a 72-72 contest and put the Kings in front for good.

San Miguel went to guard Simon Enciso for the needed baskets in the fourth quarter, where he hit all four of his three pointers to keep the Beermen in the game.

The last of those three pointers levelled the score at 70-70 after the Beermen trailed by as many as eight to start the final quarter.

Enciso finished with a team-high 18 points to make up for the absence of starting guard Chris Ross.

Perez added 17 points and eight rebounds, while six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo was held to just six points but grabbed 17 rebounds.

Currently, San Miguel Beermen has three victories and one defeat, in the on-going 47^th season of PBA Philippine Cup.