Romero's UNO career over - Reigning Sun Belt MVP out with torn ACL

www.nola.com Wednesday February 26, 2003 By Marty Mulé Staff writer

The college career of Hector Romero, the Sun Belt Player of the Year last season and one of the league's top scorers for a second straight year, has ended because of an injury suffered Sunday.

Romero, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the first half of last weekend's 68-63 loss at DenverThe injury is not likely to prevent Romero from pursuing professional basketball possibilities, the team physician said, but it ends his college career. From Our Advertiser

In his two seasons at UNO, Romero failed to score in double-figures only once -- in his last game. He averaged 20.2 points per game in 2001-02, second in the Sun Belt, and led the conference in rebounding with a 10.8 average.

This season, after going scoreless against Denver, he is second in the league in scoring (18.3) and third in rebounding (9.1).

Earlier this season, Romero became the 20th Privateer to score 1,000 points in a career and was named to the National Basketball Coaches Association's All-District 8 first team for the second consecutive season.

The Privateers play their first game without Romero tonight at Lakefront Arena against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (13-14), winners of three straight.

Three seniors -- Romero, center Nerijus Lisauskas and forward Jason Mann -- will be recognized before the game, UNO's last home game of the season.

Either Mann or sophomore Victor Brown will start in place of Romero, Coach Monte Towe said.

Dr. Vince Morelli, UNO's team physician, said that with surgery and rehabilitation, Romero could play basketball at a high level again. "Some guys can't because they have bad associated injuries," Morelli said. "Hector doesn't have these associated problems, so there's a good chance he can play again."

Once Romero recovers the range of motion in the leg, there will be surgery to reconstruct the ligament, Morelli said.

The injury occured when Romero caught a pass near the basket, spun, then came down awkwardly in the first half against Denver. He left the game, then returned briefly in the second half but had to leave again.

He said the injury seemed fine afterward and he was walking on it without pain. But on Monday the leg swelled. MRI tests revealed the extent of the injury.

"It's such a shame," Towe said. "Hector meant so much to our team, our program, really, it's hard to put into words. I told him this won't affect his chances for later on (professional basketball), and that's the good thing. The other side of it is we have to go on without him, and I don't mean we'll miss him just as a player."

As a player, Romero left a major imprint on UNO basketball and helped in getting Towe's program in place.

The paths of the two crossed almost a decade before, when Towe was coaching Marinos de Oriente in the Professional Basketball League of Venezuela. Romero, growing up in Barcelona and enchanted with the game, came to see Towe's team win the championship.

"I remembered that he won a lot of games," Romero said when he realized the Monte Towe who was trying to convince him to come to UNO from Independence (Kan.) Community College was the same animated coach he watched in Venezuela.

A similar light had earlier registered for Towe when he ran across Romero's name while scanning a recruiting list. "The name seemed familiar, and it was," Towe said. "It was on all the junior college evaluations. We looked into it."

Going after Romero may have been the best move Towe made in his two-year major college head coaching career, and coming to UNO was a good decision for Romero. He became the platform on which Towe built his program.

"It's almost over now, and that's a little hard to believe," Romero said last week. "It's gone by so fast. I remember when (the athletic department) put my picture on posters, on programs, how surprised I was. My jaw dropped I was so stunned. It touched me because it's good to know people appreciated you.

"But UNO gave me an opportunity, and that's what I came here for."

UNO basketball would certainly have been different without Romero, who had 28 double-doubles (scoring and rebounding) in his 54-game career.

In his first season at UNO, Romero became the first Privateer to rank in NCAA's top 50 in both scoring (20.2, 36th) and rebounding (10.8, ninth) in the same season.

After Romero scored a game-high 29 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in a game at Florida, a top 10 team, Gators coach Billy Donovan offered an unsolicited opinion: "Hector Romero was the best player on the court today."

"Hector was probably better than any of us could have thought," Towe said. "He fit right in, performed at a high level and helped lift his teammates. I'm glad we didn't have to go through (that first season) without Hector."

Towe said Romero's presence gave him a leg up on his long-range plans for the program. UNO stumbled out to a 5-11 start last season before winning 10 of their final 12 games, finishing 15-14.

"It wasn't an eye-catching record," Towe said, "but it was important because we were really playing well at the end. We really were a year ahead of time, because at the start I don't think anyone predicted that for us."

This season the Privateers are 14-12.

Towe said Romero's success could have been from being in the right place at the right time. "He could have gone to other places, Manhattan or Charlotte. But at those schools he might not have played right off, and he might not have developed as quickly. We needed him, and we benefitted from Hector coming here. But Hector benefited from being here, too."

Romero's statistics aren't the most telling sign of his contributions to the rebuilding of the UNO program, said Towe, who remembered point guard A.J. Meredith hugging Romero after a game during the Privateers' stretch run a year ago.

"A.J. grabbed Hector and said, 'We love this guy,' " Towe recalled.

"And you know, it's hard to just walk into a program, with guys who were already here, and be the loved one."

. . . . . . Marty Mulé can be reached at mmule@timespicayune.com. or (504) 826-3413.